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Aullior «»r "A History <>f Mnrsliall County;" "Big- Four Wonders of 
America;" "A History of Freemasonry in Indiana:" " Hemoval of the Pot- 
tawattoniie Indians from Nortlu-rn Indiana;" etc. 



REMOVAL 



OF THE 



POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS 



FROM 



NORTHERN INDIANA 



EMBRACING ALSO A BRIEF STATEMENT OF THE INDIAN 

POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT, AND OTHER 

HISTORICAL MATTER RELATING TO 

THE INDIAN QUESTION. 



-BY- 



DANiEL McDonald. 



"A mixed occupancy of the same territory by the white and red man is incompatible 
with the safety or happiness of either * * * The remedial policy, the principles of which 
were settled more than thirty years a^o under the administration of Mr. Jefferson, con- 
sists of an extinction, for a fair consideration, of the titles to all the lands still occupied 
by the Indians within the states and territories of the Dnited States, their removal to a 
country west of the Mississippi mach more extensive and better adapted to their con- 
dition than they now occupy * * * "—From President Van Btjben's Message. 



Plymodtb, Indiana: 
D MoDonald & Co., Printers and Binders. 

18«t 






31250 



Copyright 1898 
By Daniel McDonald. 



x\ll Rights Reserved. 



•"WO COPIES REC'iveo, 












NDFX 



Algonquin 6 

Aubenaube, Anecdote of 29 

Aubenaube's Reserve 13 

Battle of Tippecanoe 27 

Biography of Governor Wallace 19 

Brute, Bishop 32, 36 

Burial Ground, Indian 20, 32 

Carey Mission 38 

Cliapel. Indian .32 

Chi-chi-pe ()u-te-pe '. 32, 35 

Chip-pe-way Village 13 

Clary, I. N., Statement 46 

Comoza Reserve 14 

Coquillard, Benjamin, Statement 48 

Council at Twin Lakes 16 

Cox, Sanford, Narrative 37 

Daily Journal of General Tipton 24, 25, 26 

DeSeille, Father 32 

First Emigration 15 

French, Charles H , Statement 48 

Godfroy, Gabriel. Miami Chief 52 

Govern ment Indian Policy 7, 58, 59 

Governor Wallace. Message of 18 

Greenville Trea+y 7 

Hill, William W.. Recollections 52 

Houghton. T. K , Recollections 44 

How, David, Recollections 44 

Indian Chapel, Twin Lakrs 32 

Indian Policy of the (xovernment 7, 58, 59 

Indians. Miami 5 

Indians, Miami, Removal of : 50 



INDEX — Continued. 



Jackson, President 8,9 

Jennings, Jonathan 29, 80 

Lake Manato 9 

Legislature, Joint Resolution IB 

Lentz, Owen J. Recollections 48 

Lowery, John, Recollections 45 

Macatamaaw 13 

Manato Lake 9 

McCoy, Christiana 12 

McCoy, Rev. Isaac 81, 38 

Menominee as a Preacher , 41 

Menominee Cruelly Treated 42 

Menominee Has Two Wives 41 

Menominee, Speeches of IB, 88, 40 

Menominee Village 32 

Miami Indians 5 

Miami Fndians, Removal of 50 

Michigan Road Completed 11 

Michigan Road Treaty 11 

Mill, Pottawattomie 9 

Monroe, President, Message of 7, 8 

Narrative, Sanf ord Cox 37 

Naswaugee 13, 15 

Nataka 13 

Ordered to March 36 

Osage Reservation 15 

Ou-te-pe, Chi-chi-pe 82, 35 

Pau-koo-shuck 14 

Pe-pin-a-wa 13 

Pepper, Abel C, Indian Agent 20 

Petit, Rev. Father Benjamin Marie 33 

Pinkeshaw Bands 5 

Pokagon, Leopold 30 

Pokagon, Simon 31, 56 

Pokagon Village 30, 81, 82 

Polke Family 11 

Pottawattomie Bands 6, 56 

Pottawattomie Mill 9, 28 

Pottawattomie Tribe Disappearing 56 

Pottawattomies Who Emigrated West 47 



NDEX — Continued. 



Removals, Voluntary 46 

Report of General Tipton 21, 22, 23, 24 

Reservation, Osage 15 

Resolutions, Joint Legislature 13 

River Styx 54 

Scott, M. H., Recollections of 49 

Sluyter, William, Recollections of 43 

Styx, River 54 

Table of Treaties 14 

Tipton, General, Report of 21, 22, 23, 24 

Tipton, General, Sketch of 26, 27 

Treaty of Greenville 7 

Treaty of 1826 9 

Treaty of 1795-1832 13 

Twin" Lakes 13, 32 

Visit to Menominee 39 

Visit to Pcbeeko 40 

Wallace, Governor, Biography of 19 

Wea Indians 5 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



BETWEEN PAGES 

First Frame House Erected North of the Wabash 10—11 

Mrs. Christiana McCoy 12—13 

Col. Abel C. Pepper 20—21 

Chippeway Village Camp 24 — 25 

Gen. John Tipton 26—27 

Pottawattomie Mill Dam 28—29 

Gov. Jonathan Jennings 28 — 29 

Chief Simon Pokagon 32 — 33 

Rev. Stephen Theodore Badin 32 — 33 

Mrs. Angelina Shipshewana 38 — 39 



INTRODUCTION. 



The question of the extinguishment of the Indian titles to the 
lands of the Pottawattomie Indians in Northern Indiana and Southern 
Michigan and their removal to a reservation to be provided for them 
west of the Missouri river, was one of the most important and delicate 
questions the government had to deal with in the early settlement of 
this part of the Northwest territory. General treaties were made from 
1820 to 1830 between the government agents and the chiefs and head- 
men of the Pottawattomies in this part of the country by which large 
tracts of land were ceded to the government, and numerous reserva- 
tions made to various bands of Pottawattomies in Northern Indiana 
and Southern Michigan. Later these reservations were ceded by treaty 
by the Indians to the government for a stipulated amount, and in all 
the treaties it was provided that the Indians should remove to the res- 
ervation west of the Missouri within two years from the date thereof. 
The dates of these treaties were about all in the years 1835 and 
1836, the last date for removal expiring about the first of August, 1838. 

In the numerous treaties and historical sketches which have been 
written concerning the early settlement of this part of the country up 
to the present time^ but little information has been given in regard to 
this interesting question. The story which follows was a paper pre- 
pared by the writer for, and delivered to, the Northern Indiana Histor- 
ical Society of South Bend, in the early part of 1898. It was so well 
received by the society and the large and intelligent audience who 
heard it, that it has been deemed of sufficient historical interest to pre- 
serve it in this form. 



THE STORY OF THE REMOVAL 



The territory now included within the boundaries of Indiana, Illi- 
nois and Michigan, which was the home of the Pottawattomie Indians 
for many years prior to the time they were removed to a reservation 
west of the Missouri river — the cause for which removal will appear 
hereafter — was in the early days of the history of America owned and 
occupied by the Miami Indians, originally known as the Twightwees. It 
was claimed by France from the time of the discovery of the mouth of 
the Mississippi river by La Salle in 1682 to 1763 when it was relin- 
quished by treaty to the government of England and held by it until 
1779 as a part of her colonial possessions in North America. The state 
of Virginia extended its jurisdiction over it until 1788 when it came 
by treaty of peace and by deed of cession from Virginia the property 
of the United States. In 1787 an ordinance was passed by congress 
creating the territory Northwest of the River Ohio, which embraced 
the territory of the now states above mentioned. 

The Miami Indians. 

The Miami Indians, the original inhabitants of this region, were a 
powerful nation, and about 1790 could muster about 1500 warriors. 
They were at war with the whites more or less until they were disas- 
trously defeated by Gen. Anthony Wayne in 1791, after which they 
made peace at Greenville in 1795. After that they rapidly declined. 
By a series of treaties between that date and 1809 they ceded lauds ex- 
tending from the Wabash river to the Ohio state line. The annuities 
proved fatal to them, introducing intoxicating liquors, resulting in dis- 
sipation, indolence and violence. In the war of 1812 they sided with 
England and being defeated under Gen. Harrison, they sued for peace, 
and a treaty was made September 15, 1815. War had broken up the 
progress they had previously made; drunkenness and debauchery again 
prevailed, leading to fights in which nearly 500 perished in fifteen 
years. In 1822, as shown by the census, they numbered 2,000 or 3,000 
on three reservations. The Wea or Pin-kee-shaw bands numbering 
384 were removed — or rather removed themselves, in 1833-5 to a reser- 
vation of 160,000 acres of land in Kansas. The Miamis, then number- 
ing about 1.100 all told, sold to the government 177,000 acres in Indi- 
ana for $335,680, still retaining a considerable tract, but by treaties 



6 THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS, 

made in 18;W and 1840 they ceded to the groverument practically all 
these reservations and were removed to near Fort Levenworth, Kansas. 
At that time they had dwindled to a wretched, dissipated band of 250, 
each individual being paid an annuity of about $125. In 1873 they 
numbered about 150, and now that once great and powerful nation 
originally in possession of the whole of the territory of what is now 
Indiana, Illinois and Southern Michigan, is practically extinct. 

The Pottawattomie Indians. 

In the early days the Miamis permitted the Pottawattomies to occupy 
their lands in Northern Indiana, Illinois and Southern Michigan, and 
finally they were recognized by the owners of the territory occupied by 
them, and with them, after the United States came in possession of the 
territory through the ordinance of 1787, treaties were made by which 
all the lands were finally ceded to the United States. 

The Pottawattomie tribe of Indians, the owners and inhabitants of 
the territory now composing Northern Indiana, belonged to the great 
Al-gon-quin family, and were related by ties of consanguinity to the 
Ojibways or Chipewas and Ottowas. The first trace we have of them 
locates their territory in the Lake Superior region on the islands near 
the entrance to Green Bay, holding the country from the latter point 
to the head waters of the great lakes. Subsequently they adopted into 
their tribe many of the Ottowas from Upper Canada. 

In the name of this tribe there is a marked significance touching 
certain characteristics from which they acquire some early distinction. 
The name is said by a writer on Indian lore to be a compound of Put- 
ta-wa, signifying a blowing out or expansion of the cheeks as in blow- 
ing a fire; and ''Me" a nation, which, being interpreted means a nation 
of fire-blowers. The application seems to have orignated in the facil- 
ity with which they produced flame and set burning the ancient coun- 
cil fires of their forefathers beside the waters of the Green Bay country. 

About 1817 it was estimated that there were in the region north of 
the Wabash river and south of Lake Michigan something more than 
2,000 Pottawattomies. They were located at villages on the Tippeca- 
noe, Kankakee, Iroquois, Yellow river, St. Joseph of Lake Michigan, 
the Elkhart, Miamis of the Lake, the St. Joseph emptying into it, the 
St. Marys, Twin Lakes, Muk-sen-cuck-ee and Lake Kewana. At that 
time they had no uniform abiding place of residence. During the fall, 
winter, and part of the sjiring they were scattered in the woods hunting 
and fishing. Their wigwams were made of poles stuck in the ground 
and tied together with slips of bark, slender hickory wythes or raw- 
hide strings. They were covered with bark or a kind of a mat made of 
flags. There was an occasional rude hut made of logs or poles, but 
nearly all the dwellings were wigwams hastily put up as here described. 



THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. 7 

They raised some corn, but lived priucipally on wild game, fish, fruits, 
nuts, roots, and were clothed with blankets and untanned skins. 

The Treaty of Qreenville==i795. 

After Gen. Anthony Wnyne had subdued the Indians in 1794, he 
succeeded in concluding a treaty with the various tribes at Greenville, 
Ohio, in 1795. The boundary lines which were established by that 
treaty between the United States and the bands of the Northwest- 
ern tribes, gave to the Indians all the territory lying within the })resent 
limits of Indiana, with the following exceptions: Six miles square 
where Ft.. Wayne now stands; two miles square on the Wabash river at 
the end of the portage from the head of the river Maumee eight miles 
west of Ft. Wayne; six miles square at Ouetenon, or old Wea town; 
150,000 acres near the falls of the Ohio, the same being known as 
"Clark's grant;" the town of Vincennes and adjacent lands to which 
Indian titles had been extinguished, and all similar lands at other 
places in possession of the French people, or other white settlers among 
them and a strip of land running directly from the site of Fort Re- 
covery so as to intersect the river Ohio at a point opposite the mouth of 
the Kentucky river. 

Indian Policy of the Qovernment. 

The most important question this country had to deal with in the 
days of the formation of the republic in regard to Indian affairs was, as 
to what policy should be adopted and pursued in regard to the future 
disposition of the various Indian tribes and bands. 

In his second inaugural address in 1821, President Monroe brought 
the question of the care and disposition of the Indian tribes before con- 
gress. Up to that time the government had treated them as separate 
and indt'pendent nations. "The distinction," said President Monroe, 
"had flattered their pride, retarded their improvement, and in many in- 
stances paved the way for their destruction." Continuing he said: 
"They have claims on the magnanimity — on the justice of this nation 
which we must all feel, and we should become their real benefactors. 
Their sovereignty over vast territories should cease, in lieu of which the 
right of soil should be granted, to be invested in permanent funds for 
the support of civil government over them and for the education of 
their children, for their instruction in the arts of husbandry, and to 
provide sustenance for them until they can provide it for themselves." 

In conformity to this recommendation congress soon after made 
appropriations and appointed commissioners to negotiate treaties with 
the various tribes. In 1824 president Monroe in his inaugural message 
again stated that the object had not been effected, but added: "Many 
of the tribes have already made great progress in the arts of civilization 



8 THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. 

and civilized life. This desirable result has been brought about by the 
humane and persevering policy of the government, and particularly by 
the proposition for the civilization of the Indians. There have been 
established under the provisions of this act 32 schools, containing 916 
scholars who are well instructed in several branches of literature, and 
likewise in agriculture and the ordinary arts of life. Their civilization 
is indispensible to their safety, and this can be accomplished only by 
degrees. Difficulties of the most serious character present themselves 
to the attainment of this very desirable result on the territory on which 
they now reside. To remove them by force even with a view to their 
own security and happiness would be revolting to humanity and unjus- 
tifiable." He therefore recommended that the territory embraced with- 
in the limits of the states and territories and the Rocky mountains, 
and Mexico should be divided into districts to which the Indians should 
be induced to emigrate. 

In a special message to congress in 1825 President Monroe again 
said: "The great object to be accomplished is the removal of these tribes 
to the territory designated on conditions which shall be satisfactory to 
themselves and honorable to the IJjiited States. This can be done only 
by conveying to each tribe a good title to an adequate portion of land 
to which it may consent to remove, and by providing for it there a sys- 
tem of internal government which shall protect their property from 
invasion and by the regular progress of improvement and civilization 
prevent that degeneracy which has generally marked the transition 
from the one to the other state." 

In his second annual message dated December 6th, 1830, President 
Andrew Jackson, on this subject said: 

"It gives me pleasure to announce to congress that the benevolent 
policy of the government steadily pursued for nearly thirty years in re- 
lation to the removal of the Indians beyond the white settlement is 
approaching to a happy consummation. Two important tribes have 
accepted the provisions made for their renioval at the last session of 
congress, and it is believed their example will induce the remaining 
tribes also to seek the same obvious advantages." "Doubtless," he con- 
tinued "it will be painful to leave the graves of their fathers; but what 
do they more than our ancestors did or their children are now doing? 
To better their condition in an unknown land our forefathers left all 
that was dear in earthly objects. Our children by thousands yearly 
leave the land of their birth to seek new homes in distant regions. Does 
humanity weep at these painful separations from everything animate and 
inanimate with which the young heart has become entwined? It is rather 
a source of joy that onr country affords scope where our young popula- 
tion may range unconstrained in body or mind, developing the power 
and faculties of the man in their highest perfection. These remove 



THE KEM()\AI, Ol' THK I'OTT A \V ATTOM I K INItlANS. 9 

hundreds and almost thousands of miles at their own expense, ])nrchase 
the lands they occupy and support themselves at their new homes 
from the moment of their arrival. Can it be cruel in this govern- 
ment, when by events which it cannot control, the Indian is made 
discontented in his ancient home to purchase his lands, to give 
him a new and extensive territory, to pay the expense of his removal 
and svipport him a year in his new abode? How many thousands of 
our people would gladly embrace the o])portunity of removing west on 
such conditions?" 

In his message in 18iU he said: 

''My opinion remains the same,' and T can see no other alternative 
for the Indians but that of their removal to the west or a quiet sub- 
mission to the state laws." 

That policy the government adhered to to the end, and in accord- 
ance therewith all subsequent treaties were made. 

The Treaty of 1826. 

On October 10, 1826, Lewis Cass, James B. Ray and John Tipton 
concluded a treaty with the Pottawattomie tribe by which a large scope 
of country in Southern Michigan and Northern Indiana, was ceded to 
the United States, from which numerous small reservations were made, 
in all containing ninety-nine sections. The Indians were to receive an 
annuity of !!)2,000 in silver for the term of twenty-two years, and the 
government was to support a blacksmith shop at some convenient point, 
and to appropriate for educational purposes annually S2,000 as long as 
congress might think proper; also to build for tiiem a mill, sufficient 
for them to grind corn, on the Tippecanoe river, and provide for the 
support of a miller. This mill was built on the outlet of Mana-tou 
lake a short distance east of the present town of Rochester. The gov- 
ernment was also to pay thera annually 100 bushels of salt, all to be 
])aid by the Indian agent at Fort Wayne. 

The Michigan Road Treaty. 

Into this treaty was interjected an article in which was ceded to the 
State of Indiana a strip of land one hundred feet wide extending from 
Lake Michigan at Michigan City to Madison on the Ohio river. The 
article is as follows: 

"Article 2. As an evidence of the attachment which the Potta- 
wattomie iribe feel towards the American people, and particularly to 
the soil of Indiana, and with a view to demonstrate their liberality, 
and benefit themselves by creating facilities for traveling and increas- 
ing the value of their remaining country, the said tribe do hereby cede 
to the United States a strip of land commencing at Lake Michigan and 



10 THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. 

running thence to the Wabash river, one hundred feet wide, for a road, 
and also, one section of good land contigupus to the said road for each 
mile of the same, and also for each mile of a road from the termination 
thereof through Indianapolis to the Ohio river for the purpose of 
making a road aforesaid from Lake Michigan by the way of Indianap- 
olis to some convenient point on the Ohio river. And the general 
assembly of the State of Indiana shall have a right to locate the said 
road and to apply said sections, or the proceeds thereof to the making 
of the same, and the said grant shall be at their sole disposal." 

The wording of the treaty was a cunningly devised arrangement to 
swindle the Indians of an immense amount of some of the best lands 
belonging to- them in the state. The Indians had nothing to do with 
writing the treaty, and evidently knew little about what the result of 
its operation would be. They were lead to believe that a great thor- 
oughfare between Lake Michigan and the Ohio river would be built 
which would enable them to travel with ease and comfort between these 
two important points. 

Congress having confirmed the treaty the legislature in 1830 or- 
dered the line to be surveyed and laid out. By reference to the state 
map, it will be observed that the road did not run in a direct line across 
the state. From Indianapolis north it leads directly to Logansport, 
thence through Kochester and Plymouth to South Bend. At the latter 
place it turns directly west and runs through the bt. Joseph and Laporte 
prairies and thence to the mouth of Trail creek at Michigan City. 

By the act of the legislature approved in 1832 a commissioner to 
manage the construction of the road and dispose of the lauds was cre- 
ated. In regard to the construction of the road north of Logansport it 
was provided as follows: 

"Sec. 11. Said commissioner is hereby authorized and required to 
have that part of the Michigan road that lies between the town of Lo- 
gansport and Lake Michigan at the mouth of Trail Creek, cut and 
opened one hundred feet wide, between the 15th day of June next and 
the last day of November next, in the manner following to-wit: Cut 
and clear off of the said road, all logs, timber and undergrowth, leaving 
no stump more than one foot above the level of the earth; the creek 
banks to be graded, and the swamps and mud causewayed, and good, 
sufficient bridge made over such streams and swamps as is necessary to 
make the same passable at all times for wagons, and as near as may be 
every part equally good. Pj-ori<hd, however, that the expenditure on 
said road, north of Logansport, shall not exceed in the aggregate, the 
amount that has been expended and is by this act appropriated on said 
road south of Logansport to the Ohio river, in proportion to the distance. 

"Sec. 12. Said commissoner shall cause that part of said road be- 
tween Logansport and Lake Michigan to l)e laid off in sections of one 




FII5ST FltAMK MOTSK i:i{K(TKI) NOUTir OF WAP.ASTT T^TVFJ}. 



Hesideiice of William Folke, iu\Mr 'rii»|»ecaii(>e Kiver, (Hi Michijiaii Itoad, 
North of lioohester; Built in \s:V2. 



THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIA XS. 11 

mile each, to be numbered in numerical order, one, two, three, and so 
on, commencing: at Logansport; and said commissioner is hereby au- 
thorized to make such alterations in said road as he shall deem neces- 
sary withiji the land selected and surveyed for said road, and through 
such lands as the road may pass; such other alterations may be made as 
may be deemed beneficial and lessen the expenses of opening the same, 
and not materially increase the distance with the consent of the own- 
ers of such lands; and the commissioner is authorized to receive relin- 
quishments to the state for the use of the road the width one hundred 
feet for said road, and said commissioner is authorized to make such 
alteration at Michigan City, a town lately laid off at the termination 
of said road on Lake Michigan, so as to enter Michigan street and 
pass along the same and Wabash street in said town to the termination 
of siiid road." 

The road was completed after a fashion through Northern Indiana 
in the latter part of 1833 and the early part of 1834. Judge William 
Polke, who was appointed by the government removing agent and took 
charge of the last removal in 1838, at Danville, Illinois, was a large 
contractor in buildiiig the road. At that time he resided in the first 
frame house erected north of the Wabash river which stood, and yet 
stands in an excellent state of preservation on the east side of the 
Michigan road about a mile north of the Tippecanoe river. It was near 
this house and not far from the Tippecanoe river at the Indian village 
called Chip-pe-way, where Gen. Tipton and his soldiers camped with 859 
Indians the first night after leaving Twin lakes in Marshall county 
when they were being removed to the reservation provided for them by 
the government west of the Missouri river. This was Sept. 2d, 1838. 

The Polke Family. 

William Polke was a very prominent man in the affairs of the early 
settlemewt of this state, and especially of Northern Indiana. He ac- 
cumulated large landed interests and was one of the original proprie- 
tors of Plymouth, and probably other towns along the line of the Mich- 
igan road. About the time of the admission of the state into the Union 
he took an active interest in the civilization of the Indians, and for a 
time assisted Itev. Isaac McCoy, Baptist missionary then stationed at the 
Carey mission near where Niles, Michigan, is now located, in pacifying 
and subduing the war-like spirit of the Indians of this part of the state 
and Southern Michigan. He did much to bring about the extinguish- 
ment of the Indian titles but never served as agent for the government 
in perfecting any of the treaties in this part of the state. 

In 1878, John C. McCoy, of Wilder, Johnson county, Kansas, a son 
of Rev. Isaac McCoy, wrote a letter to Rev. Gr. H. Bailey, of Niles, in 



12 



TIIK KKMOVAl. OK THK I'OTTA W AT'I'OM 1 K INDIANS'. 




which he details some incidents of striking historical interest, in con- 
nection with the l^olke family. He says: 

''My mother's maiden name was Christiana Polke, one of the 
younger children of Charles Polke. In Mc^ft'erson's Notes,' a small 
book by President Jefferson, is a certificate from the same Charles 
Polke to prove the charge against Col. Cresap for the murder of the 
family of the celebra<"ed Indian chief Logan. He then lived in south- 
western Pennsylvania. He afterward moved to Nelson county, Ky., 
where ray mother was born. Be- 
fore the birth of my mother the 
Indians captured the stockade fort, 
'Kinchelor's Station,' in which the 
settlers were collected (most of the 
men being absent at the time), 
killed the few men and many of 
the women and children, destroying 
everything, and -carried away the 
surviving women and children as 
prisoners. Among these were the 
wife and three children of my grand- 
father, Charles Polke. These child- 
ren werci Judge William Polke, af- 
terwards a prominent man in Hi- 
diana, Nancy, Kuby, and Eleanor 
Hollingsworth. They were taken 
to Detroit, where the British held 
possession, and where she (Mrs. Polk) was delivered of another child 
(Thomas), who died about one year ago (1877) a wealthy citizen of Texas. 

''My grandmother was ransomed from the Indians by some benevo- 
lent British officer, and remained for about three years in Detroit, sup- 
porting herself and child by her needle The three other children were 
carried off by the Pottawattomie Indians to the St. Joseph river, prob- 
ably in the vicinity of the Carey Mission (Niles), 

"For three long years my grandfather supposed they had all been 
slain in the massacre at the burning fort. At last my grandmother 
found means to send him word of their condition. He traveled alone 
on foot through the trackless wilderness three hundred miles in search 
of his lost ones whom God had spared. He was treated with great 
kindness by the British officials, who gave him such aid for the recovery 
of his children as he desired. He went alone, and at last found them, 
two with one family of the Pottawattomies and one with another, by 
whom they were adopted. When grandfather found the two first, Wil- 
liam and Eleanor, and they knew he had come for them, they both ran 
and hid themselves. They had forgotten their native tongue, and it 



MRS. CHRISTIANA McCOY. 
[From a ijhotograph obtained by 
C'ai)t. Orville F. Chaniberlin, of 
Elkhart, from Mrs. Harris, aiiraiul- 
(laughter of Mrs. McCoy.] 



THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. Ij3 

was with difficulty that he finally induced their foster-parents to give 
them up or them to accompany him. This transpired certainly but a 
few miles from the site of the old Carey Mission, where years after- 
wards another child, and sister of these lost captives, went through toil 
and tempest to repay the very same people (many of whom were still 
living), not with vengeance or injury, but with gifts of richer and 
more enduring value than gold." 

Treaties Between 1795 and 1832. 

From the date of the treaty of peace at Greenville in 1795 to 1832 
all the lands in possession of the Pottawattomie and Miami Indians 
were ceded to the United States by treaties made between the chiefs 
on behalf of the Indians, and commissioners appointed by the govern- 
ment on behalf of the United States. Nearly all the titles to the lands 
in this part of the country reserved for various bands by the treaty of 
1882 were extinguished by United States Commissioner Abel C. Pepper 
who seems to have had a powerful influence over the wild men of the 
forest. He was born in Shenandoah county, Virginia, settled in Rising 
Sun, Indiana, prior to the admission into the Union in 181G, and in vari- 
ous ways took an active interest in the formation of the new state and 
preventing them from committing depredations. He died in Rising 
Sun March 20, 1860. 

In the year 1831 the legislature of Indiana passed a joint resolution 
requesting an appropriation by congress for the purpose of the extin- 
guishment of the remaining Indian titles of lands within the state. The 
appropriation was made and three citizens — Jonathan Jennings, first 
Governor of Indiana, John W. Davis and Marks Grume were appointed 
by the secretary of war to carry into effect the law authorizing the ap- 
propriation. These commissioners assembled with the several Indian 
chiefs concerned at a place called Chippeway, or Chippeway-nung on 
the Tippecanoe river where the Michigan road crosses the same, two or 
three miles north of Rochester, and sixteen miles south of Plymouth, 
where they concluded a treaty October 27, 1832, by which the chiefs 
and warriors of the Pottawattomies of Indiana and Michigan territory 
ceded to the United States their title and interest to all the lands in 
Indiana, Michigan and Illinois south of Grand River. From this gen- 
eral treaty a large number of small individual reservations were made. 
Among them was a reservation of two sections to Nas-wau-gee, and 
one section to Quash-qua, both on the east shore of Lake Muk-sen- 
cuck-ee; 22 sections to Menominee, Pe-pin-a-wa, Na-ta-ka and Mac-a- 
taw-ma-aw, taking in Twin Lakes; — several sections on the east and 
south of Lake Muk-sen-cuck-ee to Au-be-nau-be, in all, in this and Ful- 
ton county, 36 sections, and to other chiefs making total reservations 
of 160 sections. These reservations were all ceded back to the govern- 



14 



THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. 



nieut between 1834:-7 by treaties, mostly negotiated by Abel C. Pepper. 
William Marshall concluded a treaty with Chief Com-o-za Dec. 4, 1834, 
on the lake which is spelled Max-ee-nie-kue-kee. April 11th Col. Pep- 
per negotiated a treaty with Pau-koo-shuck on the Tippecanoe river for 
the 36 sections owned by Au-be-nau-be, his father, whom he had killed 
in his cabin near the Tippecanoe river. 

Table of Treaties. 



The following is a table of all the treaties by which the individual 
reservations in Marshall and adjoining counties were ceded to the gov- 
ernment, being the reservations made to the several chiefs named by 
the treaty of 1832: 



Date 




Place. 


Commissioner. 


Chief. 


No. 
Sees. 


Dec. 4, 18S4 


Maxeeniekuekee. . . . 


Wm. 


Marshall. . . 


Com-o-za 


2 


Dec. 10, 


'34 


Tippecanoe 

Logansport 


11 


11 


Muck-kose 


6 


Dec. 17, 


'34 


11 


u 


Mo-ta 


4 


Mar. 26, 


'36 


Turkey Creek 


Abel C. Pepper. . 


Mus-qua-buck 


4 


Mar. 29, 


'36 


Tippecanoe River. . . 


11 


11 


Wa-ke-wa 


4 


Apr. 11, 


'36 


u u 


11 


11 


Pau-koo-shuck 


36 


Apr. 22, 


'36 


Logaiii^port Agency 


11 


11 


Au-ka-niaus, Ke- 
way-nee, Ne-bosh, 
Mat-ehis-jaw 


10 


Apr. 22, 


'36 


U 11 


u 


11 


Quash -qua, Nas- 
wau-gee 


3 


Sep. 20, 


'36 


Chiiiewaynung 


u 


11 


Me-met-wa, Che- 
qua-ke-ko 


10 


Aug. 5, 


'36 


Yellow River 


11 


11 


Pe-pin-a-wa, N a - 
ta-ka, Mack-a-taw- 






'36 


Chii^ewaynung 


11 


11 


ma-ah 


22 


Sept. 23, 


Krin-krash 


4 


Sept. 23, 


'36 


u 


u 


11 


Che-chaw-kose 


10 


Sept. 23, 


'36 


11 


11 


11 


As-kum, We - s i - 






'36 


11 


11 


It 


on-as 


10 


Sept. 23, 


We-saw 


4 


Sept. 23, 


'36 


11 


11 


" 


Mo-ta, Min-o-quet, 






'37 


Washington 


J. T. 


Douglass . . . 


Mosac 


12 


Feb. 11, 


Che-chaw-kose, As- 














k u m , We-saw, 














Muck-rose, Que- 














ko-to, all the inter- 














est of which they 














were possessed. 





The last treaty the government concluded with the Pottawattomies 
was made at Washington City by John T. Douglass on the part of the 
United States and Chee-chaw-kose, Ask-um, We-saw, or Louison, Muk- 
kose, and (^ui-qui-to chiefs. This treaty was a ratification of all the 
treaties concluded by Abel C. Pi-pper, August 5th and September 23d, 
1836, in which were ceded the lands reserved for them in the treaty of 
October 26-7, 1832. The said chiefs agreed that they and their several 
bands would remove to the country that would be provided for them by 



THE REMOVAL OF THE I'OTTA WATTOMIE INDIANS. 15 

the govt-runieut southwest of the Missouri river within two years from 
the date of the treaty. It was also further provided as follows: 

/'Article 3. — The United States further agrees to convey by patent 
to the Pottawattomies of Indiana a tract of country on the Osage river, 
southwest of the Missouri river, sufficient in extent and adapted to 
their wants and habits, remove them to the same; furnish them with 
one year's subsistence after their arrival there, and pay the expenses of 
the treaty, and of the delegation now in this city." 

All the treaties previously made Ijy which the Indians surrendered 
their titles to the lands reserved for them by the treaty of 1832 also 
contained a provision that they would remove to the reservation west of 
the Missouri within two years. 

First Emigration From Northern Indiana. 

The first emigration of the Pottawattomies from Northern Indiana 
under the treaty stipulations made in 1836 that they would remove to 
their reservation within two years took place in July, 1837. IJnder the 
direction of Abel C. Pepper U. S. Commissioner, the small bands of Ke- 
wa-na, Ne-bosh, Nas-wau-gee, and a few others assembled at the village 
now known as Ke-wa-na, in Fulton county. They were placed in 
charge of a uian by the name of George Proffit who conducted them to 
their reservation. In this emigration there were about one hundred all 
told, all of whom went voluntarily. Among the chiefs who were well 
known was Nas-wau-gee. He ruled over a little band at his village on 
the east shore of Lake Muk-sen-cuck-ee not far from the residence of 
the late Henry H. Culver, founder of Culver military academy. He 
owned a reserve of two sections which he ceded to the government in 
1836, and agreed to remove with his band to the country west of the 
Missouri within two years from the date of the treaty. 

Nas-wau-gee was a quiet, peaceable chief, and made friends with 
all the wliite settlers in the region about. When the time came to 
leave he determined to go peaceably, as he had agreed he would. The 
day before he started he sent word to all the white settlers to come to 
his village, as he wished to bid them farewell. A large number assem- 
bled, and through an interpreter he said substantially: 

''Ml/ White Brethren:— I have called you here to bid you farewell. 
Myself and my band start at sunrise tomorrow morning to remove to 
an unknown country the government of the United States has provided 
for us west of the Missouri river. 1 have sold my lands to the govern- 
ment and we agreed to leave within two years. That time is about to 
expire, and according to the agreement we have made we must leave 
you and the scenes near and dear to all of us. The government has 
treated us fairly and it is our duty to live up to that contract by doing 
as we agreed, and so we must go. The white settlers here have been 



16 THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. 

good and kind to ns, and in leaving them it seems like severing the 
ties of our own kindred and friends. We go away and may never re- 
turn, but wherever we may be— wherever our lot in life may be cast, we 
shall always remember you with sincere feellings of respest and esteem." 

The old chief was visibly affected and tears were seen to flow from 
his eyes. All the people present took him by the hand and bade him a 
final adieu as well as most of the members of his band. Early the next 
morning with their personal effects packed on their ponies, they 
marched away in single file following the Indian trail along the east 
shore to the south end of Muksencuckee thence southwest to Ke 
wa-na, where they joined the other bands and immediately proceeded on 
their long and wearisome journey. 

On the 6th of August, 1838, the time stipulated in the several trea- 
ties for the Indians to emigrate having expired, and many declining to 
go, a council was held at the Me-no-mi-nee village just north of Twin 
Lakes in Marshall county, five miles southwest from Plymouth, in July 
or August, 1838. Col. Abel C. Pepper, agent of the government was 
present and most of the chiefs in that part of the county, also many 
white residents of the surrounding country. The treaties were read 
wherein it was shown that in ceding their lands the Indians had agreed 
to remove to the western reservation within the time specified, and that 
the date was then at hand when they must go. It was plain to those 
present who were familiar witn the Indian character that there was 
great dissatisfaction among them and a spirit of rebellion growing 
which if not soon suppressed would probably lead to serious results. 
The leader and .jrincipal spokesman for the Indians was Me-no-mi-nee. 
By the treaty of 1832, twenty-two sections of land had been reserved to 
him and three other chiefs, viz: Pe^ pin-a- waw, Na-ta-ka, and Mack-a- 
taw-ma-ah. This reservation bordered on the west of Plymouth and far 
enough south to take in Twin Lakes about half way between Plymouth 
and Muk-sen-cuck-ee Lake. The last three named chiefs entered into a 
treaty with Col. Abel C. Pepper on behalf of the government August 
5th, 1836, by which they ceded all their interest in the reservation 
above described, for which the government agreed to pay them $14,080 
in specie, and they were to remove to the country west of the Missouri 
river provided for them within two years. Chief Me-no-mi-nee refused 
to sign the treaty, and persistently declined to release to the govern- 
ment his interest in the reservation. When Col. Pepper had made his 
final appeal and all had had their say, Me-no-mi-nee rose to his feet, and 
drawing his costly blanket around him is reported by one who was 
present to have said in substance as follows: 

''Ki micheozimadodagemagad kageto kidenima kigaget. Win dowa 
nin waiegima ondji. Windodagemagad kidenima tchi kin sindabin- 
igansiwanimo achi tchinin kawika raigwan lagina tchi. Windadasem- 



THE REMOVAL OF THE I'OTTA \V.\ TTO.MI K INDIAN'S. 17 

agad kidenima tchi kin ojfchigade nind oshki ogimag givvshka he aclii 
awiidis tchi abindis nin. Nind dodageraagad kidenima tchi nin diawa 
miwima tchi atawa ninawke achi beka niiwia. Win songendomowin 
kageto gaskiewisiwin nin ikonjowa kewin kibchibegamog kinidauiss 
ogema awenau apinchi mawchi mauito ka nind pagidina tchi bi badjiin 
nind kin niinisino inendamowin nin sasiddina takobinigedowa aninioosh 
Idshpin kekendge widebewin. Nin awena wi michi ogima win gwaiak- 
obimadis dash win pissinam tchi ikkitiwin ni noshke ogi mog k*^ 
aidwapinwabo; achi aupe win kikegige debwewin win lenddam nagana 
nen tchin nin dnkee. Ninian kageto auiawe nin aukee. Nin inenidam 
kadeto Awtawe inew. Nin aian kagen ijinikasowin debwewin man- 
sinaigan, achi memdam kageto injinkaswain pazhig ninaw kegeto miwi 
tchi nagana nidukee achi nin kageto manes tchi nomdam niina wa." 

Which being interpreted is as follows: 

"Members of the Council: — The president does not know the truth. 
He like me has been imposed upon. He does not know that 3'our 
treaty is a lie, and that I never signed it. He does not know that you 
made my young chiefs drunk and got their consent, and pretended to 
get mine. He does not know that I have refused to sell my lands and 
still refuse. He would not by force drive me from my home the 
graves of my tribe, and my children who have gone to the Great Spirit, 
nor allow you to tell me your braves will take me, tied like a dog if he 
knew the truth. My brother, the President, is just, but he listens to 
the word of the young chiefs who have lied; and when lie knows the 
truth he will leave me to my own. 1 have not sold my lands. I will 
not sell them. I have not signed any treaty and will not sign any. 
I am not going to leave my lands and I don't want to hear anything 
more about it." 

Describing the scene, one who was present said: "Amid the ap- 
plause of the chiefs he sat down. Spoken in the peculiar style of the 
Indian orator — although repeated by an interpreter — with an eloquence 
of which Logan would have been proud, his presence the personifica- 
tion of dignity, it presented one of those rare occasions of which his- 
tory gives but few instances, and on the man of true appreciation would 
have made a most profound impression." 

Considerable time was spent in trying to persuade Me-no-mi-nee 
and his following to accept the inevitable and remove peaceably to the 
reservation provided for them, as if they did not, the government would 
be compelled to remove them by force. Without accomplishing any- 
thing, however, the council disbanded. Me-no-mi-nee was a wise and 
experienced chief, and he knew that the final consummation was near 
at hand. As soon as the council had disbanded he began at once to 
fire the hearts of his followers with a determination to resist the gov- 
ernment officers in their evident intention to remove them, peaceably if 



18 THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTA WATTOMIE INDIAKS. 

they could, forcibly if they must. The consequence was, the Indians 
became desperate, intoxicating liquors were drank to excess; threats 
of violence were freely made, and the white settlers in the immediate 
neighborhood became greatly alarmed for the safety of themselves and 
families. In this alarming condition of affairs, a number of white set- 
tlers of Marshall county early in August 1838 petitioned the governor 
of Indiana for protection against what they believed would result in 
the certain destruction of their lives and property. In his message to 
the legislature December 4, 1838, Governor Wallace said: 

"By the conditions of the late treaty with the Pottawattomie tribe 
of Indians in Indiana, the time stipulated for their departure to the 
west of the Mississippi expired on the Gth of August last. As this try- 
ing moment approached a strong disposition was manifested by many 
of the most intluential among them to disregard the treaty entirely^ 
and to cling to the homes and graves of their fathers at all hazards. 
In consequence of such a determiuatiou on their part, a collision of 
the most serious character was likely to ensue betweea them and the 
surrounding settlers. Apprehensive of such a result, and with a view 
to prevent it, the citizens of Marshall county, early in the month of 
August, forwarded to the executive a petition praying that an armed 
force might be immediately sent to their prott-ction. On receipt of 
this petition I repaired as speedily as circuaistanees would permit to the 
scene of ditliculty, in order to satisfy myself by a personal examination 
whether their fears were justifiable or not. On my return to Logans- 
port a formal requisition awaited me from the Indian Agent, Col. A. C. 
Pepper, for one hundred armed volunteers to be placed uuder the com- 
mand of some competent citizen of the state whose duty it should be to 
preserve the peace, and to arrest the growing spirit of hostility dis- 
played by the Indians. The requisition was instantly granted. I ap- 
pointed the Hon. John Tipton to this command, and gave him author- 
ity to raise the necessary number of volunteers. He promptly and 
patriotically accepted the appointment, and although sickness and dis- 
ease prevailed to an alarming extent throughout northern Indiana, yet 
such was the spirit and patriotism of the people there, that in aliout 
forty-eight hours after the requisition was authorized, the requisite 
force was not only mustered, but was transported into the midst of the 
Indians before they were aware of its approach, or before even they 
could possibly take steps to resist or repel it. The rapidity of the 
movement, the known decision and energy of Gen. Tipton, backed by 
his intimate acquaintance and popularity with the Indians, whom it 
was his business to quiet, accomplished everything desired. The re- 
fractory became complacent; opposition to removal ceased; ail^ the 
whole tribe, with a few exceptions, amounting to between 800 and 900 
voluntarily prepared to emigrate. Gen. Tipton and the volunteers ac- 



TIfK KEM()\AF. OF THE I'OTTA \V ATTOMI E IXDIAXS. ] i) 

companied them as far as Danville, Illinois, administering to them on 
the way whatever comfort and relief humanity required. There they 
were delivered over to the care of Judge Police and the United States re- 
moving agents. Copies of all the communications and reports made to 
the executive by (lien. Tipton while in the discharge of this duty 1 lay 
before you, from which I feel assured you will discover with myself 
that much credit and many thanks are due not only to him but to all 
wao assisted him in bringing so delicate an affair to so happy and suc- 
cessful a termination." 

(Diligent search and inquiry has been made in the several dejiart- 
ments of the state at Indianapolis, and it is much to be regretted that 
none of the papers referred to have been preserved.) 

Governor David Wallace. 

David Wallace was (lovernor of Indiana from 1837 to 1840. He 
was the father of General Lew Wallace, author of "Ben Hur." He 
was born in Pennsylvania April 24, 1709, and graduated from West 
Point in 1821. He served in the legislature in 1828, 1829 and 1831, 
and as Lieutenant-Governor from 1831 to 1836 and Governor 1837 to 
1840. During his term as Governor he issued the first Thanksgiving 
Day proclamation. The most important act of his administration was 
his order to remove the remaining Pottawattomie Indians, as set forth 
in his message above quoted. Governor Wallace, after his term as 
Governor expired, was subsequently elected to Congress. He was made 
a member of the Committee of Ways and Means and in that commit- 
tee gave the casting vote in favor of assisting with a donation to Pro- 
fessor Morse to develop the magnetic telegraph. This vote was rid- 
iculed by his political opponents and cost him many votes the last time 
he ran for Congress. But he lived to see the telegraph established in 
nearly all the countries of the world, and the wisdom of his action ac- 
knowledged by all. 

As an orator Governor Wallace had few equals. One who knew 
him well speaking of his oratorical powers said: "With a voice modu- 
lated to the finest and nicest precision, an eye sparkling and expressive, 
a countenance and person remarkable for beauty and symmetry, he 
stepped upon the speaker's stand, in these respects far in advance of 
his compeers. His style of delivery was impressive, graceful and at 
times impassioned, never rising to a scream or breaking into wild ges- 
ticulations, and never descending into indistinctiveness or lassitude. 
His style of composition was chaste, finished, flowing and beautiful, 
often swelling up into rarest eloquence or melting down into the ten- 
derest pathos. His prepared orations were completed with the severest 
care. As the sculptor chisels down and finishes his statue, chipping 
and chipping away the stone to find within his besutiful ideal, so did 



20 THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTAWATTOMTE INDIANS, 

he elaborate his thoughts till they assumed the shape he would give 
them, and so will retain them forever." 

He died suddenly on September 4, 185U, and lies buried in Crown 
Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis. 

Col. Abel C. Pepper, Indian Agent. 

Col. Abel C. Pepper, the government Indian Agent, who then was 
stationed at Logansport, and who made the requisition for the company 
of militia ordered by Governor Wallace, was born in Shenandoali 
county, Virginia, in 1793, and died at Rising Sun, Indiana, March 20, 
1860. He had tilled numerous ojffices under the state and nation, 
always with entire acceptability. Especially did he render valuable 
services to his state in securing treaties with the Pottawattomie Indians 
in Northern Indiana by which the lands reserved for them by former 
treaties were ceded back to the government and opened to entry by the 
white settlers of that time. Between December, 1884 and September, 
1836 he had, without assistance, concluded eiglit treaties for lands held 
by the Indians north of the Tippecanoe River, embracing about 80,000 
acres. In all these treaties a provision was inserted that the Indians 
should remove within two years to the western reservation provided by 
the government. Me-no-mi-nee and his band refusing to go. Colonel 
Pepper made the requisition for the company of volunteer militia 
above referred to. 

In all the walks of life Col. Pepper was an exemplary citizen. He 
lived respected, and died regretted by all who knew him. 

Last Visit to the Indian Burial Ground. 

On the day prior to the exodus a meeting of the Indians was held at 
the little grave yard, a short distance from the village, at which a final 
farewell of the dead was taken by those who were to leave the follow- 
ing morning never to return. Addresses were made by the chiefs 
present and by several white settlers. An address of some length was 
delivered by Myron H. Orton, of LaPorte, which was afterwards printed, 
but unfortunately no copies of it can now be found. The scene is said 
to have been affecting in the extreme. Weeping and wailing, which 
was confined to a few at first, became general, and until they were 
finally induced to disperse, it looked as though a not would surely en- 
sue. In solemn reverence they turned their weeping faces from the 
sleeping dead, never to look upon the graves of their kindred again. 

Getting Ready to Move. 

General Tipton recruited and organized the company of soldiers 
authorized by Governor Wallace within forty-eight hours after the 
requisition was made. These recruits were nearly all from ('ass county^ 
at Logansport, and in the vicinity. They started from Logansport the 




COL. ABEL C. PEPPER. 



The Government's Indian Agent, Stationed at Logansport, September, 1838. 



THE REMOVAL OK THE POTTA WATTOM 1 K INDIANS. 1^1 

latter part of August, marching aloug the Michigan lloatl through 
Rochester, across Tippecanoe River, and then along the okl Indian 
trail north-westward, until they came to Me-no-mi-nee Village at Twin 
Lakes, five miles south-west from Plymouth. A great many of the 
white settlers in the neighborhood turned out to welcome the soldiers, 
and to render such assistance as might be necessary. The Indians were 
surrounded before they realized that the soldiers had been sent to re- 
move them. They were disarmed, and preparations at once commenced 
for the starting of the caravan. Squads of soldiers were sent out in 
every direction for the purpose of capturing the straggling bands en- 
camped in various places in the county, and such others as might be 
found hunting and fishing in the neighborhood. Several days were oc- 
cupied in getting everything in readiness. The names of heads of fam- 
ilies, and other Indians were registered, and when the list was completed 
it showed a total of 859. When all was in readiness to move, the 
wigwams and cabins were torn down and Me-no-mi-nee Village had the 
appearance of having been swept by a hurricane. Early on the morn- 
ing of September 2, 1838 orders were given to move, and at once nearly 
one thousand men, women and children, with broken hearts and tear- 
ful eyes, took up the line of march to their far western home. 

General Tipton's Report to Governor Wallace. 

General Tipton accompanied the Indians as far as Sandusky Point, 
where he made the following report to Governor Wallace: 

Encampment, Sandusky Point, Illinois, 
September 18, 183^/ 

Dear Sir: — I have the honor to inform you that the yblunteers 
under my command reached this place last evening with 850 Pottawat- 
tomie Indians. Three persons improperly called chiefs — Me-no-mi-nee, 
Black Wolf, and Pe-pin-a-wa— are of the number. I have this morn- 
ing put the Indians under the charge of Judge Wm. Polke, who has 
been appointed by the United States to conduct them west of the Mis- 
souri River. I have also the honor to lay before your excellency a copy 
of my orderly book, or daily journal, to which I beg leave to refer a de- 
tailed statement of the manner in which my duties have been performed 
as commanding officer of volunteers engaged in this delicate service. 

It may be the opinion of those not well informed upon the subject 
that the expedition was uncalled for, but I feel confident that nothing 
but the presence of an armed force for the protection of the citizens of 
the state and to punish the insolence of the Indians could have pre- 
vented bloodshed. The arrival of the volunteers in the Indian village 
was the first intimation they had of the movement of men with arms. 

Many of the Indian men were assembled near the chapel when we 
arrived and were not permitted to leave camp or separate until matters 



22 TFrE llEMOVAL OF THE POTTA WATTOMIE INDIANvS. 

were amicably settled, and they had agreed to give peaceable possession 
of the land sold by them. I did not feel authorized to drive these poor 
degraded beings from our state, but to remove them from the reserve, 
and to give peace and security to our citixens. But I found the Indi- 
ans did not own an acre of laud east of the Mississippi; that the gov- 
ernment was bound to remove them to the Osage river, to support 
them one year after their arrival west, and to give to each iudividual of 
the tribe 320 acres of land. Most of them appeared willing to do so. 
Three of their principal men, however, expressed a wish to be governed 
by the advice of their priest, (Mr. Petit, a Catholic gentleman) who had 
resided with them up to the time of the commencement of the quarrel 
between the Indians and the whites, when he left Twin Lakes and re- 
tired to South Bend. I addressed a letter inviting him to join the emi- 
gration and go west. He has accepted the invitation and 1 am happy 
to inform you that he joined us two days ago, and is going west with 
the Indians. It is but justice to him to say that he has, both by ex- 
ample and precept, produced a very favorable change in the morals and 
industry of the Indians, that his untiring zeal in the cause of civiliza- 
tion has been, and will continue to be, eventually beneficial to these 
unfortunate Pottawattomies, when they reach their new abode. All 
are now satisfied and appear anxious to proceed on their journey to 
their new homes, where they anticipate peace, security and happiness. 
It may be expected that I should give your excellency an intima*^ion or 
an opinion of the causes which have led up to the difficulty now hap- 
pily terminated. A few words on that subject must suffice. 

First the pernicious practice (I believe first introduced into our In- 
dian treaty making at Fort Meigs in 1817) of making reservations of 
land to satisfy individual Indians, and sometimes white men, opened 
the door for both speculation and fraud. 

By the treaty of 1832, the Pottawattomie Indians sold all their 
claims to laud within the state of Indiana, except a few small reserves 
for particular tribes and parties. These reservations did not vest in the 
chief of any party a fee in the lands reserved; the original Indian title 
remained undisturbed, as you will see by the opinion of the Attorney 
fxeneral of the United States in the case of a reserve made by a treaty 
with the Prairie Pottawattomies October 20, 1832, to which I beg leave 
to refer. Me-no-mi-nee Reserve, about which the dispute originated, was 
made for his })and by the treaty of 1832; he being a principal man (but 
not a chief) was first named, and the reserve has ever since been called 
by both Indians and white men "jye-no-mi-nee's Reserve." In 1331 a 
commissioner was appointed by the President to purchase that reserva- 
tion. He succeeded in purchasing one-half the land at 50 cents per 
acre; the other half (11 sections) was reserved for individual Indians 
and whites, Me-no-mi-nee coming in for a large share of individual 



THE REMOVAL Ol' THE I'OTTA WATTOMI E [N'DIAXR. 'I'ii 

property. Hence the other Indians would have been defrauded out of 
their just claim to an interest in the reserve if that treaty had been 
confirmed. But the President, viewing the matter in the true light, 
did not submit the treaty to the Senate, but appointed A C. Pepper, 
and authorized him to open the negotiation and purchase all the land 
for the government. He succeeded in purchasing the whole of the re- 
serve at 11 per acre. Me- no- mi-nee did not sign the latter treaty, be- 
cause he could not possess himself of a moiety of the land, and endow 
the chapel with the balance. By the treaty of 1836 the Indians re- 
served the right to remain on the lands for two years. The time ex- 
pired on the 5th of that month (August, 1888) and the Indians refused 
to give possession to the settlers who had entered upon the land in an- 
ticipation of the passage of the pre-emption law. The passage of the 
law of June 22nd last gave to each settler who had resided on the re- 
serve for four mouths previous to that day, a pre-emption right to 160 
acres of land. On the 5th of last month, the day on which the Indians 
were to have left the reservation, the whites demanded possession, 
which they— the Indians — absolutely refused. Quarrels ensued and be- 
tween the 15th and 20th the Indians chopped the door of one of the 
settlers, Mr. Watters, and threatened his life (see his certificate marked 
A.). This was followed by the burning of ten or twelve Indian cabins 
which produced a state of feeling bordering on hostilities. The assist- 
ant superintendant of emigration who had been stationed in the vicin- 
ity for some months, had failed to get up an emigrating party, and the 
public interpreters were so much alarmed as to be unwilling to remain 
in the Indian villages. I entertain no doubt but for the steps taken by 
your excellency, murders would have been committed on both sides in 
a sew days. The arriyal of an armed force sufficient to put down the 
hostile movement against our citizens effected in three days what 
counseling and fair words had failed to do in as many months. 

I see no reason for censuring the officers to whose charge the emi- 
gration has been confided. They should, perhaps, have prevented the 
Indians from planting corn in June when every one must have known 
that they would be ousted on the 5th of August. But on the other 
hand the Indians had the right of possession until August 5th, 1838. 
The Indians were under the influence of bad counsel from different 
sources. They were owing large debts to the traders who opposed the 
emigration of the Indians before their debts were paid or secured. 
Some were anxious to keep them where they were, hoping to obtain 
with ease a part of the money paid them as annuity. Lawyers, I am 
told, advised Me-no-mi-nee to keep possession and defend his claim to 
the reserve in oar courts. Another class of men, both subtle and vig- 
ilant office-seekers, were using their influence to procure the dismissal 
of the officers heretofore engaged in the attempt to remove the Indians 



:>4 THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTA WATTOMI E IXDIAXS. 

that they might succeed to the places of the present incumbents. And 
still another class, perhaps less wicked but not free from censure, is 
made up of those who influenced the Indians to plant corn aud contend 
for the possession of the reserve. I am happy in being able to state 
that the removal of the Indians was eifected without bloodshed or m,al- 
treatment. Every attention that could be was paid to their healths 
comfort and convenience. When on our marches, which are sometimes 
very much hurried, owing to the great distance between watering 
places, it is not unusual to see a number of volunteers walking whilst 
their horses are ridden by the sickly or infirm Indians. I found no dif- 
ficulty in raising the number of volunteers required, although the peo- 
ple of the northern part of the state are much afflicted with sickness. 
I was compelled to discharge one or more every day and permit them to 
return home on account of bad health. The greatest number in service 
at any tim^ was 97. The conductor of the emigration has requested me 
to place at his disposal 15 volunteers to attend the party, and keep order 
in the camp at night. Believing it necessary I have consented to do 
so, and have detailed Ensign B. H. Smith with 14 dragoons on the 
service. The rest of the corps will be discharged tomorrow. 

In closing this report, already much longer than I could wish, I 
beg leave to express the obligation I am under to our mutual friend. 
Col. Bryant, who acted in the capacity of aid de camp, and has proved 
himself to be an excellent officer. I am not less indebted to Mrijor 
Evans, of LaPorte. His knowledge of military discipline enabled him 
to be eminently useful. To Gen. N. D. Grover, Captains Hannegan 
and Holman, and Lieutenants Eldridge, LaSalle, Nash and Linton, and 
Ensigns McClure, Wilson, Smith and Holman, and to J. T. Douglass, 
adjutant, I am also under great obligations. Every commissioned of- 
ficer and soldier has fully sustained the high character of western, vol- 
unteers. I have the honor to be 

Your Obedient Servant, 

John Tipton. 

P. S. — T transmit herewith for the information of your excellency 
an exhibit (B), showing the names of the Pottawattomie Indians as 
emigrants, and the number of their respective families. 

General Tipton's Daily Journal. 

The following is abridged from Gen. Tipton's daily journal of the 
occurrences that took place on the way: 

Tuesday, September 4th, 18--^8. — Left Twin Lakes, Marshall County, 
Indiana, early this morning. Traveling today was attended with much 
distress on account of the scarcity of water. Provisions and forage 
were also very scarce and of poor ((uality. The distance made was 21 
miles. 



















































































*> 5 
















1 


ia%*^ 




1, 







cHii'-rK-WAV \'illa(;k. 



('iuni)ing (Troiiml First Niglit at 'rime of lU'inuval, Scptciiilifi- l'ikI, is.iS: 
On Tippecanoe River at tlie (rossiiiir of Micliiiran Ifoad, llinc Milr^ Xorlli 
of Hochester. 



THE REMOVAL OF THK POTTA WATTOM I E INDIANS. 25 

Wednesday, 5th. — Filty-one jjersoiis were found to be uualjle to 
continue the journey on account of the want of transportation and 
were left, the most of them sick, with some to care for them. On ac- 
count of the difficulty of finding water, a dif^tnnce of only 9 miles was 
traveled. On the evening of this day a child died and was buried the 
next morning. 

Thursday, (Uh. — A distance of 17 miles was traveled and less of 
suffering and difficulty was experienced than on either of the previous 
days. During the evening *J persons left behind the day before came 
into camp. 

Fkiday, 7th.— Thirteen persons more of the number left on Wednes- 
day came into camp. Eighteen persons belonging to different families 
also joined the expedition. A child died in the morning. 

Saturday, 8th. — A child 8 years old died and was buried. A chief, 
named We-wis-sa, came in with his family consisting of (3 persons. 
Two wagons which had been sent back for those left behind at Chip- 
peway on Wednesday, returned bringing 22 person, the whole number 
left behind, except 9 who were unable to travel, and a few who had 
managed to escape. Jt was arranged for those left behind to be taken 
care of until able to proceed on the way. 

Sunday, 9th.— Physicians came into camp and reported about 300 
cases of sickness which they pronounced of a temporary character. A 
kind of hospital was erected to facilitate the administering of medical 
treatment. Two children died this day. 

Monday, 10th — Tlie journey was renewed and 21 persons inclusive 
(if sick and their attendants were left behind. The day was hot, but as 
the journey was made along the Wabash, there was not so much suf- 
fering for water. On the evening and night after getting into camp a 
child and man died. 

Tuesday, 11th. — A distance of 17 nailes was accomplished through 
an open and champaign country with only the difficulties of procuring 
subsist ance and forage. 

Wednesday, i2th. — Tlie distance traveled from camp to camp was 
fifteen miles. The encampment was made near Tippecanoe Battle 
Ground. At this place a quantity of dry goods, such as cloaks, blank- 
ets, calicoes, etc., amounting to $5,469.81 was distributed among the 
Indians. Here, too, a very old woman, the mother of We-wis-sa, died. 
She was said to be over 100 years old. 

Thursday, 13th. — A distance of eighteen miles was traveled. The 
sultry heat and the dust were the chief drawbacks on the way. Two 
physicians were called in to prescribe for those indisposed. They 
1 reported a hundred and sixty cases of sickness. 

Friday, 14th. — A journey of eighteen miles was made over a dry 
and unhealthy portion of the country. Persons who through weari- 



2fi ■ THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTAWiTTOMIE INDIANS. 

ness and fatigue were continually fa-lling sick along the route and the 
wagons to transport them were becomingdaily more and more crowded. 
As the party advanced into the prairies the streams were found to be 
literally dried up. Two deaths took place on the evening of this day. 

Saturday, 15th.— After traveling ten miles the migrating party were 
forced to encamp at noon near an unhealthy and filthy looking stream 
as it was learned that there would be no chance of a better place that 
day. Two small children died along the road. 

Sunday, 16th.— Danville in Illinois was reached after a journey of 
fifteen miles, a large part of the way being over the Grand Prairie. The 
heat and the dust made the traveling distressing. In the morning sev- 
eral persons were left sick in camp. The horses had become jaded, the 
Indians sickly, and many persons engaged in the emigration more or less 
sick. The whole country passed through was afflicted, as every village 
and hamlet had its invalids. Provisions and forage were found more 
enormously dear the farther the advance of the ]»arty. The sickness 
of the whole country was found to be unparalleled. Four persons in 
the little town near the encampment had died the day before. 

Monday, 17th. — The volunteers and 859 Pottawattomie Indians 
reached Sandusky Point where they were turned over to Judge William 
Polke to conduct them west of the Mississippi river. 

Of the onward journey under the management of Judge Polke we 
have only the general statement that 150 persons were lost on the whole 
way by death and desertion. What amount of suffering fell to the lot 
of these poor Indians every day on this horrible journey! Hundreds of 
them were daily burning with the terrible malarious fever so univer- 
sally prevalent during the w;irm part of 1838. These hundreds were 
crowded into common rough wagons and compelled to bear the down- 
pouring rays of a sultry sun and the only beverage to quench the pre- 
vailing thirst dipped from some mud stream just drying up. The 
food was composed of beef and flour cooked as might be while 
encamped for the night. Alas, how these poor little dusky infants 
must have suffered! No wonder that their little graves markeil the 
daily journeys! 

General John Tipton. 

Gen. John Tipton, who figured so conspicuously in the removal of 
the Indians, had previously taken a very active part in protecting the 
early pioneers from Indian de])redations on the frontiers, and especially 
in the battle of Tip[)ecanoe against the Shawnees. 

He was born in Sevier county, Tennessee, August 14, 178(5. While 
young he moved with his parents to the west where his father became 
a leader in the defense of the frontier against the hostile Indians and 
was murdered by the savages in 1798. Left fatherless and on his own 




GENERAL JOHN TIPTON. 



Coniiuander of the Soldiers at the Removal of the Indians from Twin 
Lakes, Marshall ("ounty, Septemher 2, 1838. 



THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTAAVATTOMIE INDIANS. 27 

resources, in the fall of 1807, with his mother, two sisters, and a half 
brother, he removed to the then Indiana territory, and settled on the 
Ohio river. In June, 1807, he enlisted in a company recruited in his 
neighborhood, which was soon afterwards ordered to the frontier for 
the protection of settlements. 

In September, 1811, th'^ company entered the campaign which ter- 
minated in the battle of Tippecanoe, November 7, 1811. Early in that 
memorable engagement all of Major Tipton's superior officers were 
killed, and he was promoted to the captaincy when the conflict was at 
its height. He kept a journal of the campaign which is still in exist- 
ence. It is written on common writing paper, folded and stitched, and 
is yellow with age. At that time he had received ver}' little education, 
and was quite illiterate. His account of the battle and the events that 
occurred about that time is given as it appears in his journal, spelling 
and all. as follows: 

"Wednesday the 6 a verry Cold day. We moved early a scout sent 
out they Came back and seed indian sines. We march as usel till 12 
Our spies caught four horses and seed some Indians. Stopt in a prairie 
the foot throwed all their napsacks in the waggons, we formed in 
order for Battle — marched 2 miles then formed the line of Battle we 
marched in 5 lines on the extreme Right, went into a cornfield then 
up to the ai)ove town and surrounded it they met us Pled for Peace 
they Said they would give us Satisfaction in the morning. All the 
time we ware there they kept hollowing. This town is on the west 
side of wabash — miles above Vincinnis on the Second Bank neat built 
about 2 hundred yards from the river. This is the main town, but it 
is scattering a mile long all the way a fine cornfield, after the above 
moovment we mooved one mile farther up. Camped in timber between 
a Crei-k and Prairie aft^r crossing a fine creek and marching 11 miles. 

"Thursday the 7 Hgreeble to their promisd. Last night we were 
Huswerfd by the firing of guns and the Shawnies Breaking into our 
Tents a blood combat Took Place at precisely 15 minutes before 5 in 
the morning which lasted two hours and 20 minutes of a continewel 
firing white many times mixed among the indians so £hat we Could not 
tell the indians and our men apart, they kept up a firing on three sides 
of us took our tent from the gueard fire. Our men fought Brave and 
by the timely help of Capt. Cook wilh a company of infantrv we maid 
a charge and drove them out of the timber across the parairie. Our 
Loost in killed and wounded was 179 and theirs greater than hours. 
Among the dead was our Capt Spier Spencer and first Lieutenant 
Mcmahan and Capt Berry that had been attached to our company and 
5 more killed Dead and 15 wounded, after the indians gave ground we 
Burried our Dead. Among the Kentuckians Was Killed Mayj. Owen, 
and Mayj Davis badly wounded and a number of others, in all killed 



28 THE HKMOVAL OF THE I'OTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. 

and woiiiided was 179, but no company suffered like ours. We then 
held an election for officers I was elected captain. we then built 
Breastworks our men in much confusion, our tlower been too small and 
our beeve lost. Last night onley half rations of whiskey and no corn 
for our horses, my horse killed I got mcmahans to Ride. 87 of them 
had been killed wounded and lost last night. I had one quart of whiskey. 

"Friday the 8th a Cloudy day and last night was also wet and cold, 
we lay all night at our Breastwork fire in the morning Spies sent out 
found the Indians hr.d left their town, the horsemen was all sent to 
burn the town. We went and found a Great Deal of Corn and some 
Dead Indians in the houses loaded G waggons with Corn and Burnt 
what was Estimated at 2 thousand bushels and 9 of our men died 
last night." 

He soon with his companions returned to his home in Corydon. 
Indiana. Subsequently he was, by regular gradation, promoted to the 
rank of Brigadier General, and given command of the militia in South- 
ern Indiana. 

He held numerous offices in county and state, always with honor 
and credit to himself. He was a member of the legislature in 1819 and 
was chairman of the committee which selected and located the present 
capital of Indiana at Indianapolis. In 1823 he was appointed General 
Agent for the Pottawattomie Ind'ans on the Upper Wabash, Tippeca- 
noe and Yellow Rivers, and established the agency at Fort Wayne, 
which was afterwards removed to Logansport. 

At the session of the Legislature in 1881 he was elected United 
States Senator to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of James 
Noble, and was elected in 1888 for the term ending in 1889. He died 
on the morning of April 5, 1889, in the meridian of life, honored and 
respected by all who admired an honest, upright, conscientious citizen, 
neighbor and friend. 

The Pottawattomie Mills. 

The Pottawattomie Mill, provided by the third article of the treaty 
of October 10, 182(5, was erected on the north-west shore of Lake Man- 
a-tou a short distance east of Rochester, and almost in sight of the spot 
where the Indians were camped on Tippecanoe river the first nip-ht 
after Gen. Tipton started them from Twin Lakes on their removal west 
of the Mississippi. 

By a treaty made March 16, 1885, the Indians ceded all their lands 
in that part of Indiana, including the mill, and the miller provided for 
was no longer to be supported by the United States The Indians, by 
the terms of the treaty, agreed to remove to the West within two years. 
Among the most noted chiefs who figured extensively here about that 
time was Au-be-nau-be. By the terms of the treaty of January 21, 




I'O'ITAWAT'I'O.M I F; ,M I I.L DAM. 



Present Appearaiiee of t lie ()1<I INtttawattoiiiii- Mill Dam on the Outlet 
«f Lake Manatou, near liochester; Huilt in 1K2H. 




JON ATH A X .1 KN N I X( ;S. 



Fiisl (idvcnioi- of Indiana; Died July lid, ]s;{4. 



THE KEMOVAL OF THE I'OTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. 29 

1833, he and his band were given thirty-two sections of land, which in- 
eluded his village that stood near Leiter's Ford. Aubenaube Township 
in Fulton County is named in his honor. Au-be-nau-be was not a very 
good Indian. He was nearly always drunk and quarrelsome. In one 
of his drunken sprees he killed one of his wives. Some time afterwards 
be was killed by his son, Pau-koo-shuk, in a log house later owned by 
Mr. Blodgett, west of the Michigan road, near the north Fulton 
county line. His band went peaceably to the Western Reservation 
about 1837. 

An Anecdote of Au=be=nau=be. 

In the negotiation of the treaty of October 26, 1832, an anecdote is 
told of Au-be-nau-be, (spelled Obanoby in that treaty) which will bear 
repeating here, as that old chief was one of the most important factors 
among the Pottawattome Indians in Northern Indiana at that time. 

President Jackson appointed Gov. Jonathan Jennings a Cotnmis- 
siont^r to negotiate a treaty with the Indians of Northern Indiana. His 
associates on the commission were John W, Davis and Marks Crume, 
the treaty being held at the forks of the Wabash where the city of 
Huntington now stands, October 26, 1832. One who was present tells 
the story of what happened there as follows: 

"During the preliminary council, Dr. John W. Davis, who was a 
jjompous, big-feeling man, said something that gave offense to Obanob}'^ 
one of the head chiefs of the Pottawattomies. Obanoby addressed Gov. 
Jennings, saying: 'Does our great father intend to insult us by send- 
ing such men to treat with us? Why did he not send Generals Cass 
and Tipton? You (pointing to Governor Jennings) good man and 
know how to tre^t us (Pointi.ig to Crume)— He chipped beef for the 
squaws at Wabash;' — meanine that Crume was the beef contractor at 
the treaty oi 1826. Then pointing to Dr. Davis he said: 'Big man 
and damn-fool.' The chief then spoke a few words to the Pottawatto- 
mies present, who gave one of their peculiar yells and left the council- 
house, and could only be induced to return after several days, and then 
only through the great influence of Governor Jennings. The signing 
of this treaty was the last otticial act of Governor Jennings. 

Qovernor Jonathan Jennings. 

Jonathan Jennings, first governor of Indiana was, probably, the 
most distinguished unin. in many ways, who took an active part in the 
formation of the Indiana Territory, and later the organization of the 
State in 181() He was born in Hunterdon county. New Jersey, in 1784. 
In his early dsiys he studied law in Pennsylvania, but before being Hd- 
mitted to practice, he took passage at Pittsburg on a flat-boat, and 
floated d(»wn the river to .Jeifersonville. where he landed, having deter- 



30 THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. 

mined to make that town his home. Here he completed the study of 
law and become a practitioner in the courts of that and other towns in 
tne territory. He was subsequently made clerk of the territorial legis- 
lature, and while discharging the duties of that position, became a can- 
didate for congress against Thomas Randolph, attorney of the territory. 
He was elected by a small majority; was re-elected over Waller Tay- 
lor in 1811. and in 1813 cho-sen for the third time. Early in 1816 he 
reported a bill to Congress to enable the people of the territory to take 
the necessary steps to convert it into a state. Delegates to a convention 
to form a state constitution were selected in May 1816, Gov. Jennings 
being chosen one from the county of Clark. When the convention 
assembled he was honored by being chosen to preside over its delibera- 
tions, and at the election which followed was elected governor of the 
new state by a majority of 1277 votes over the territorial governor, Mr. 
Posey, his opponent. In this office he served six years, also acting as 
Indian Commissioner in 1818 by appointment of President Monroe, and 
again by appointment of President Jackson in 1832. At the close of 
his term as Governor he was elected representative in Congress for four 
consecutive terms. On leaving Congress he retired to his farm near 
Charlestown, where he remaineil cultivating the soil and spending his 
leisure time in his library until July 26, 1834, when the end came. He 
died at home surrounded by his family and friends, beloved by all. 

He was a man of polished manners; one more fascinating would be 
hard to find. He was always gentle and kind to those about him. He 
was not an orator, but he could tell what he knew in a pleasing way. 
He wrote well — perhaps as well as any of his successors in the Govern- 
or's office. He was an ambitious man, but his ambition was in the 
right direction — to serve the people the best he could. He had blue 
eyes, fair complexion and sandy hair. He was about five feet, e" ght and 
one-half inches high, and in his latter days was inclined to corpulency. 
He was broad shouldered and heavy set, and weighed about 180. He 
died comparatively young, but he did as much for the well-being of 
Indiana as any man that ever lived. 

The Pokagon Pottawattomie Village. 

The Pokagon Pottawattomie Village, one of the earliest Indian vil- 
lages in Northern Indiana, and where many of the most stirring scenes 
occurred prior to the removal of the Indians to the western country 
provided for them, was located on the line between Indiana and Mich- 
igan, north of South Bend and about one mile west of the St. 
Joseph river. 

Leopold Po-ka-gon, the elder, was the second in rank among the 
chiefs of his tribe, To-pin-a-be being the first. Pokagon and his peo- 
ple were noted as being the farthest advanced in civilization of all their 




SIMOX POKAdOX. 



Distinguished Pottawattoniie Indian. Born at I'okagon N'ilhtgv in ls8((; 
Died at his honie near Haitford, ^iichitran, Jamiarv lio, iswi. 



THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. 81 

race iu the St. Joseph Valley. He has been described as a man of con- 
siderable talents, and in his many business transactions with the early 
settlers was never known to break his word. He set a good example 
to his followers by not indulging in "fire water" (whisky). He was 
particularly distinguished for his devotion to the traditional teachings 
of the Jesuit Fathers. After the destruction of Ft St. Joseph by the 
Spaniards in 1781, says Mr. Leeper in "Some Early Local Foot Prints," 
the St. Joseph Valley was practically abandoned as a missionary field for 
nearly a half century. Pokagon made several visits to Detroit especially 
to ask that the black gowns (missionaries) be again sent among his 
people. The last of these appeals was July, 1830. Detroit was then the 
residence of M. Gabriel Richard, vicar general of the bishop of Cincin- 
nati, and to the church official Pokagon poured out the deep yearnings 
of his soul. "Father, Father," he exclaimed, "I come to beg you to 
send us a black gown to teach us the word of God. We are ready to 
give up whisky and all our barbarous customs. Thou dost not send us 
a black gown and thou hast often promised us one. What! Must we 
live and die in our ignorance? If thou hast no pity on us, take pity 
on our poor children, who will live as we have liyed, in ignorance and 
vice." And he went on to recount how his people had preserved the 
prayers taught their ancestors by the black gown formerly at St. 
Joseph; how his wife and children, every night and morning, prayed 
before the crucifix; how the men, women and children of his band 
fasted according to the traditions of their fathers and mothers. M. 
Frederick Reze was sent temporarily to minister to these urgent spirit- 
ual demands. July 22,1830 he began his work baptizing Pokagon and 
his wife, respectively as Leopold and Elizabeth; the one at 55 and the 
other at 4(5. Pokagon died in Cass^County, Michigan about 1841. 

Simon Pokagon. 

Simon Pokagon, a distinguished Pottawattomie Indian still living 
near Hartford, Michigan-, is the only living son of Leopold Pokagon. 
having been born at Pokagon Village iu 1830. He has the distinction 
of being the best educated and most distinguished full blooded Indian, 
probably, in America. He has written much and delivered many ad- 
dresses of real literary merit during the past quarter of a century, 
and when he passes awav he will leave no sut cessor in this line worthy 
of the name. He has managed the band of about 200, of which he has 
for many years been the acknowledged head, with consummate skill 
and ability, and while tlie band, of which he is the most prominent 
member, have not made much headway in keeping pace with the ra])id 
advance of civilization the past fifty years, yet had it not been for Po- 
kagon. his education, enlightened views, and influence exerted in the 
ri<?ht direction, it is likelv thev would have retrograded, disintegrated. 



32 THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. 

and would undoubtedly long since have been scattered to the four winds 
of heaven. While the old chief has his faults, "eveli as you and I," yet 
when his history comes to be written in the years to come, he will be 
accorded the highest round on the ladder of fame among the great men 
of the once powerful tribe of Pottawattomie Indians. 

Menominee Village. 

Menominee village, where the Indians were surrounded and made 
prisoners by the soldiers under command of General Tipton, was a 
short distance north of Twin Lakes (called by the Indians Chi-chi-pe 
Ou-ti-pe) in Marshall County. The burial ground was located a short 
distance north-west of the village. The Indian chapel was situated on 
the north bank of the middle Twin Lake about twenty rods west of the 
Vaudalia rail road. The chapel was erected by Rev. Stephen Theodore 
Badin, the first Catholic priest ordained in the United States. He was 
born at Orleans, France, in 1768, ordained May 28, 1793, and died at 
Cincinnati April 19, 1853. He had not loug before erected a chapel at 
Pokagon Village north of South Bend, a short distance north of the 
line between Indiana and Michigan. The Twin Lakes chapel was 
erected about 1830, and was built of hewn logs, and covered with 
clap-boards. It was about 20x30 feet, the west half being two stories 
high. There was a hall-way through the center. The ro()m for the 
missionary was over the west end of the cha})el, and it was reached 
from below by means of a rustic ladder. The furniture was of the 
most primitive kind, and the food corn and wild meat and such fruits 
and vegetables as were suitable to eat during the summer season. This 
chapel, it is much to be regretted, was torn down many years ago. The 
spot where it stood is, however, plainly visible. 

Ministrations of Father De Seille. 

Father Badin was succeeded as missionary at the chapel by Fiitlier 
De Seille, probably about 1832-3, and continued until about 1837. He 
is described as a man of grave and re^-erved manner. His long inter- 
course with the Indians imparted to him a tinge of their own deej) mel- 
ancholy. His face, though youthful, bore the traces of suffering and 
the marks of tears; abstinence was written on his brow and his down- 
cast eye accorded with his meek profession. But under that calm ex- 
terior beat the burning heart of an apostle whose every breath was for 
God. The love of the Indians for him was beyond expression; they 
loved him as their father, ben(?factor and friend; as "the good messen- 
ger of the good God." 

Bishop Brute, of Vincenues, visited Northern Indiana in 1836, and 
describes the missions of Father DeSeille as follows: "A large number 
of their huts are built around the chapel, which is constructed of bark, 




REV. STEPHEN THEODORE HADIN. 



Born at Orleans, France, in 17(iO; Ordained May 2;>, IVit.t; Died at Cin- 
cinnati, April 19, IH08; First Catholic Piiest Ordainetl in tlie Inited States. 



THK REMOVAL OF THK I'OTTA WATTOM I K INDIAN'S. 88 

with a cross erected behind and rising above it, and filled with rndely- 
made benches. The Indians begin and end their work without hammer, 
saw or nails, the ax being their only implement, and bits of skin or 
bark serving to fasten the pieces together. The room of the missionary 
is over the chapel, the floor of the one forming the ceiling of the other. 
A ladder in the corner leads to it, and his furniture consists, as did the 
prophets, of a table and chair, and a bed, or rather a hammock swung 
on ropes. Around the room are his books, and the trunks which con- 
tain the articles used in his chapel, as well as his own ap})arel. He 
spends his life with his good people, shnring their corn and meat, with 
water for his drink, and tea made from the herbs of his little garden. 
He abjures all spirits, as all Catholic Indians are forbidden to touch 
that which is the bane of their race, and he would encourage them with 
his example. I attended at the evening catechism, prayers and canti- 
cles, and in the morning said mass, at which a large number attended." 

Father Benjamin Marie Petit. 

Father Benjamin Marie l^etit succeeded Father DeSeille about 1887-S, 
his first record appearing March 25, 1888. This ardent youthful spirit 
evinced an intense enthusiasm from first to last in the work of his 
chosen field, and in an outburst of fervency he tells something of his 
feelings and of his ministrations. '' How f love these children of mine,"' 
he exclaimed, "and what pleasure it is for me to find myself amongst 
them. There are now from 1,000 to 1.200 Christians. Could you see 
the little children when 1 enter a ca^iin crowding around me and climb- 
ing on my knees — the father and mother making the sign of the cross 
in pious recollection, and then coming with a confiding smile on their 
faces to shake hands with me — you could not but love them as I do." 
And again: '' When I am traveling in the woods, if I perceive an In- 
dian hut, or even an abandoned encampment, I find my heart lieat with 
joy. If I discover any Indians on ffiy road, all my fatigue is forgotten, 
and when their smiles greet me at a distance, 1 feel as if 1 were in the 
midst of my own family." This was at Twin Lakes, jNlarshall county, 
Indiana, then known as 'Mjhi-chi-pe Ou-ti-pe." 

Of the chapel exercises he gives the following intertesing account: 
''At sunrise the first peal was rung; then you might see the savages 
moving along the paths of the forest and the borders of the lakes: when 
they were assembled the second peal was rung. The catechist then in 
an animated manner gave the substance of the sermon preached the 
evening before: a chapter of the catechism was read and morning 
prayers were recited. 1 then said mass, the congregation singing hymns 
the while; after which I preached, my sermon being translated as I pro- 
ceeded by a respectable French lady, 72 years old. who ha^s devoted her- 
self to the missions in the capacity of interpreter. The sermon was fol- 



34 THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. 

lowed by a pater and an ave; after which the congregation sang a hymn 
to Our Lady, and quietly dispersed. The next thing was confession, 
which lasted till evening, and sometimes was resumed after supper. At 
sunset the natives again assembled for catechism, followed by an exhor- 
tation and evening prayers, which finished with a hymn to Our Lady. 
I then gave them my benediction — the benediction of poor Benjamin! 
Many practice frequent communion." [n the first three weeks of his 
pastorate he baptized eighteen adults and blessed nine marriages. 

But all this while a heavy grief lay at his heart. He knew that his 
joy was to be short lived; that his "dear Indians" were soon to be taken 
from him and banished to the far West. In the bitter anguish of his 
soul he exclaimed: "I shall have to level the altar and church to thu 
ground, and bury the cross which overshadows the tombs to save them 
from profanation. And those Christian souls will pine away, deprived 
of those sacraments which they approached with so much fervor, and 
languishing under an unknown sky where I, their father, shall be un- 
able to follow them." 

' Characteristics of Father Petit. 

From a sketch of the Catb.olic Missionaries of Northern Indiana, 
published in Ave Maria many years ago, the following in regard to 
Father Petit, will be of special interest in this connection : 

'' All agree in saying that an indefatigable and burning zeal never 
was seen under more amiable and graceful form, than in Rev. Father 
Petit. We never knew him, but after repeatedly visiting his admirable 
mother and brothers in liennes, we readily formed au idea of the lovely 
and winning qualities of the dear departed missionary. 

" He had literally become a sort of idol among his beloved savages, 
whose frankness and childlike simplicity delighted him. In writing of 
them, his style reveals a freshness of sentiment, of gladness and love 
almost without parallel. Tn 1838 he writes as follows: "Here I am 
in my Indian Church of Chi-chi-pe Ou-ti-pe. [This was the Indian 
Chapel at Twin Lakes.] How I love my children and delight in being 
among them! The fervor and simplicity that reigns among them is 
most touching and admirable. On New Year's eve I was asleep on my 
mat when the loud report of musketry made me spring up, wide awake; 
it is easy to make one's toilet when one sleeps on a mat. I ran to my 
door, when in rushed a troop of Indians — men, women and children — 
who, kneeling around me, begged my blessing for the New Year. Then 
with happy smiles they all came forward to shake hands. It was truly 
a family festival. 

"Now my cherished place of residence is in my Indian village ( Me- 
nominee village]; here I have a grand habitation, built of entire logs. 
placed one above the other; in more than one place we can see daylight 



TITK HEMOVAI, OK THK I'oTTA \V ATTOMIR INDIANS. '.u) 

through the walls. My tireplace is large enough to contain a (juarter 
of a cord of wood. I have no carpet, and the boards of my floor are so 
slightly fastened that they yield to the pressure of the foot, like the 
keys of the piriuo to the musicians fingers I'' 



Again he ^\ rites: "The nomadic life of the missionary is calculated 
to disengage his affections from the earth. In going so constantly from 
place to place, one feels that life is but a passing journey. Never be- 
fore did I feel such entire liberty of heart. I think I can say with truth 
that 1 desire to die, if it pleases the Lord, without, aowever, experiencing 
any of the fatigues of life. It seems to me that in the midst of these 
laljors, my health grows stronger. So be it; perhaj)s forty years of niis- 
sionary duties and then Heaven; perhaps forty days and then Heaven! 
It matters but little. 1 am satistieil with either jirovided 1 am well 
with God." 



But he had soon the sad prospect of seeing his Indian mis?iion de- 
stroyed. The governor of Indiana had ordered troops to be raised to 
remove by force the Indians under his charge at Twin Lakes to the res- 
ervation west of the Mississippi. On this occasion he writes: " If my 
poor congregations must go into exile, I shall have to destroy the altar 
and church, and take the crosses from the graves in order that they 
may not be desecrated by heretical hands. What will thrse Christian 
souls do in the far west, without the aid of the Sacraments? I, their 
Father, in all probability, will not be able to accompany thoni, although 
i shall do all in my power not to abandon theui."" 



On May 81st, 18H8, he again wrote: 'Tt is long since I have written 
you, but during the Easter times tlie poor missionary is overwhelmed 
with work. I had to give the Paschal exercises at Bertrand. Michigan, 
then at South Bend, then to my Indian congregation at Chi-chi-pe Oii- 
ti-pe [Twin Lakes] twenty-five miles distant, wh.ere for five weeks I heard 
confessions from morning until night without any repose, except two 
visits to the sick who lived forty miles apart. From ("hi-chi-]ie I had to 
carry the con>olations of religion to the cliief. Fokagon, who lived at a 
distance of sixtv miles. [In Michigan, west of the St. Joseph river aud 
north of SouMi Bend.] You may perhaps think that missionaries are 
saints, but I must tell you that during all that time I was unable to pray 
to God. for as soon as the confessions were finished and my breviay said, 
I fell asleep upon my mat. My sleep, at least, is always good. Calm, gentle 
and undisturbed, as an infant's. It is true, and this thought consoles 
me, the labor and fatigue of the day were all for the glory of the Good 
Master, to whr.m 1 give myself without reserve. May He accept it as a 
continual prav^r; it is. for those who know how to offer it, a continual 



36 THE REMOVAL OF THE FOTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. 

sacrifice. Nevertheless, there are moments when the heart seems ready 
to burst with joy and the eyes overflow with sweet tears. Oh, it is so 
good to feel that one has nothing to do in the world but work for God. 
Thanks, thanks, my God." 



About this time the government sent officers to arrange for the de- 
parture of the Indians. Father Petit again writes: 

"One morning I said mass, and immediately afterward we began re- 
moving all the ornaments from my dear little church. At the moment 
of my departure I asembled all my children to speak to them for the 
last time. I went, and my auditors sobbed aloud; it was indeed a heart- 
rending sight, and over our dying mission we prayed for tl.e success of 
those they would establish in their new hunting grounds. We then 
with one accord sang: 

"0, Virgin, we place our confidence in Thee." 

"It was often interrupted by subs and but few voices were able to 
finish it. I then left them. Oh. it was indeed sad for a missionary to 
see a work so young and vigorous expire in his arms. Some days af- 
terward I learned that the Indians, notwilhstantling their peaceable dis- 
positions, had been surprised and made prisoners of war, under pretence 
of a council they were all reunited when the military force secured 400. 
The government sent at the same time to invite me to accompany 
them to their new destination. It seems that their separation from 
their pastor was one of the motives which prevented the Indians from 
consenting to go quietly to their exile. I replied that I could take no 
steps without permission of my Bishop." 



The order was given to march without further delay. The Indians 
were driven on at the point of the bayonet; many were sick, huddled to- 
gether in transport wagons; numbers died of heat and thirst. 

It happened, however, that Bishop Brute was to consecrate a churcli 
in a neighboring mission on the 9th of September; and on the 7th the 
Indians would be encamped within a mile of the place. Two days be- 
fore, the Bishop entered Father Petit's room. Together they set out 
for Logansport and on their way learned of the sufferings of the poor 
Indians. The news was like a dagger in the heart of Father Petit, but 
to his delight the Bishop gave him permission to follow the emigrants 
on condition of returning as soon as he svas summoned; and he hasten- 
ed immediately to his post. 

No sooner did it get abroad that the priest was come than the whole 
camp was in motion; the natives flocked out to meet him, the whites 
drawn up in file formed a lane for him to pass. The enthusiasm was 
unbounded and the officer in command said, " This man has more power 



THE REMOVAL OF THK POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. o7 

here th;iii I have." On Sunday Farher Petit said mass, and vespers 
were sung. On the I'Uh he rejoined his flock. He found them moving 
onward, enveloped in clouds of dust, and surrounded by the soldiers wlio 
hurried on their marcii. Behind came the wagons, in which were 
crowded together the sick, the women, and the children. The scene as 
described by Father Petit was one of the most mournful description; 
the children, overcome by heat, were reduced to a wretched state of 
languor and exhaustion. By this time the general had begun to under- 
stand something of Father J^etit's worth, and treated him with marked 
respect. The chiefs who had hitherto been treated as prisoners of war 
were reb-ased at the priest's request and took their place with the rest 
of the tribe. First went the flag of the United States borne by a dra- 
goon: after which came the baggage; then the vehicle occupied by the 
native chiefs; next followed the main body of the emigrants, men, wo- 
men and children, mounted on horses, marching in file after Indian 
fashion, while all along the flanks of the multitude might be seen dra- 
goons and volunteers urging on unwilling stragglers, often with the 
most violent words and gestures. The sick were in their wagons under 
an awning of canvas, which, however, far from protecting them from the 
stifling heat and dust, only deprived them of air. The interior was like 
an oven and many consequently died. Six miles from Danville, Illinois, 
there was a halt for two days. " When we quitted the spot," he said, 
'• we left six graves under the shadow of the cross." Order had been so 
thoroughly restored through the presence of the priest that the troops 
now retired, and Father Petit was left with the civil authorities to con- 
duct the emigrants to their destination. 

Having seen the emigrants safely landed such as had not died and 
escaped on the way— Father Petit started on the return trip. At St. 
Louis he was taken sick from fatigue and malarial fever and died. His 
remains were afterward removed to Notre Dame, Indiana, where they lie 
buried in the Catholic cemetery at that place. 

Sanford Cox Visits the Caravan. 

Sanford C. Cox, of LaFayette, in his recollections ot the'- Early Set- 
tlement of the Wabash Valley," published in IHGO. in speaking of this 
removal, says; 

''Hearing that the large emigration, which consisted of about one 
thousand of all ages and sexes would pass within eight or nine miles 
west of LaFayette, a few of us procured hiirses and rode over to see the 
retiring band, as they reluctantly wended their way toward the setting 
sun. It was a sad and mournful spectacle to witness these children of 
the forest slowly retiring from the home of their childhood that con- 
tained not only the graves of their revered ancestors, but many endear- 
ing scenes to which their memories would ever recur as sunny .spots 



B8 THE EEMOVAL OF THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. 

along their pathway through the wilderness. They felt that they were 
biddiug farewell to the hills, valleys and streams of their infancy, the 
more exciting hunting grounds of their advanced youth, as well as the 
stern and bloody battle-fields where they had contended in riper man- 
hood — on which they had received wounds, and where many of their 
friends and loved relatives had fallen, covered with gore and with glory. 
All these they were leaving behind them to be desecrated by the plow- 
share of the white man. As they east mournful glances backward to- 
ward these loved scenes that were rapidly fading in the distance, tears 
fell from the cheeks of the downcast warrior, old men trembled, matrons 
wept, the swarthy maiden cheek turned pale, and sighs and half-sup- 
pressed sobs escaped from the motly groups as they passed along, some 
on foot, some on horseback, and others in wagons — sad as a funeral 
procession. I saw several of the aged warriors casting glances toward 
the sky, as if they were imploring aid from the spirits of their departed 
heroes who were looking down upon them from the clouds, or from the 
great spirit who would ultimately redress the wrongs of the red man, 
whose broken bow had fallen from his hand, and whose sad heart was 
bleeding within him. Ever and anon one of the party would start b;ick 
out into the bush and away to their old encampment, declaring that 
they would rather die than be' banislied from their country. Thus 
scores of discontented emigrants returned from diff-rent points on their 
journey, and it was several years before they could be induced to join 
their countrymen west of the Mississippi." 

Me=no=ini=nee. 

The Pottawattomie Indian, Me-no-mi-nee, was the central figure in 
the disturbances that lead to the raising of troops and the removal of 
tbe Indians by force from Twin Lakes, September 4, 1838. He was 
personally known to many of the original settlers of Marshall county, 
nearly all of whom, however, have long since passed away. lu his his- 
tory of Indian affairs. Rev. Isaae McCoy, a Baptist missionary, and the 
founder of Carey Mission, on the St. Joseph river, a short distance west 
of Niles, Michigan, thus speaks of Me-no-mi-nee, for whom the Menomi- 
nee village was named. Writing from Ft. Wayne about 1821, he says: 

"I had been informed by an Indian trader that on the Illinois river 
some hundred miles from Ft. Wayne, there was a company of religions 
Pu-ta-wat-o-mies. at the head of whom was one wjio was a kind of 
preacher, whose name was Menominee. As this man exhorted his fol- 
lowers to abstain from ardent spirits and many other vices, and to prac- 
tice many good morals, and as a part of their religious services consisted 
in praying, I was induced to hope that their minds were somewhat pre- 
pared to receive religious instruction. My circumstances were such 
that I could not visit them at that time, but I wrote the leader a 





MRS. an(;ki.ina sh I i'sh i:\vaxa. 



Mrs. Angelina tShipshewaiia was a full-blooil I'ottawnttoinii' Imliaii, and 
did not speak a word of p]iiglish. She resideil in llic nj^noii oT (r;mist(iwii, 
St. Joseph Connty, where slie was born in the year ISiil. Her lii.story, like 
that of most of her race, was such as occin-s in the lives of flic cliildren of 
the forest before the white man came. 



THi KEMOVAI, OK TIIK PdTT A W ATT<»M I K INDIANS. 'A\) 

letter to come lo Ft. Wayne to see nie, which he did about April 1st, 
1821. He professed to have been called some few years previously by 
the Great Spirit to preach to the Indians that they should forsake their 
evil practices, among which he enumerated the vices of drunkenness, 
theft, murder, and many other wicked jtractices. He had a few follow- 
ers, the number of whom was increasing. Menciminee ap])eared to be 
more meek, and more ready to receive instruction than could have been 
expected from a wild man who had arrogated to himself claims to be a 
leader not only in temporal but also in s])iritual things. .\t his partic- 
ular request I ijave him a writing in which I stated that he had been 
several days with me, that I had heard him preach and pray, and had 
conversed much with him; that 1 hoped his instructions would do his 
people good, and therefore requested all to treat him with kindness. 
" Now," said he, "I will go home and preach to my people all my life. 
I will tell them that my father says 1 tell the truth." 

Rev. Mr. McCoy Visits Me=no=mi=nee. 

Tn June following, Hev. McCoy visited Menominee at his village 
near Twin Lakes, in what is now Marshall County. It was then un- 
organized territory. Of that visit he said: "As we ap|)roached the vil- 
lage, Menominee and others met us with all the signs of joy and glad- 
ness which could have been expressed by these ])Oor creatures. Meno- 
minee immediately cried alo\id to his people, all of whom ( 1821 | lived 
in four little l)ark huts, informing them that their father had arrived. 
i was no sooner seated l)y their invitation than men, women and child- 
ren came around and gave me their hand — even infants were brought, 
that 1 might taKe them by the hand. A messenger was immediately 
dispatched to a neighboring village to announce my arrival. In his 
absence Menominee in((uired if 1 h;id come to reside among them. Ke- 
ceiving evasive answers he expressed great concern. He said the jiriu- 
cipal chief of their party, and all the people of the villages, with few 
exceptions desired me to come. He showed me a place which he had 
selected for me to l)uild a house upon. Their huts being exceedingly 
hot and unpleasant, 1 proposed taking a seat out of doors. The yard 
was immediately swept and mats spread for me to either sit or lie upon. 
We were presently regaled with a bowl of boiled turtle's eggs; next 
came a kettle of sweetened water for us to drink. I was then shown a 
large turtle which had been taken in a pond, and asked if I were f.md 
of it. Fearing that with their cooking I should not be able to eat it, 
1 replied that I was very fond of corn and beans. This 1 knew was 
already over the fire. It was placed before us in one large wooden 
l)owl, and we ate it with wooden ladles. Menominee had two wives, 
each of whom presented me with a bark l)Ox of sugar containing about 
thirty ]iounds each. 



40 THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTA WATTOMTE INDIANS. 

" In a short time the prii'.cipal chief, Pcheeko [Che kose?] and every 
man and almost every woman and child in his village, were at Menomi- 
nee's, and all came and shook hands. On the arrival of Pcheeko we 
had resumed our station in the house, where I handed out my tobacco, 
and all smoked until the fumes and heat became almost insufferable, 
but mustered courage to remain as I supposed it would be impolite to 
leave the room at that time. 

A Visit to Pcheelco. 

" In compliance with an invitation from the principal chief of this 
band — Pcheeko— we paid him a visit on the 12th of June, 1821, accom- 
panied by Menominee and several others. Pcheeko, to show his loyalty 
to the government, or rather as an expression of respect for me, had 
hoisted over his hut the American tlag. A large kettle of hominy and 
venison was ready for us on our arrival. To my mess, beside some 
choice pieces, they added sugar. With the help of my knife, a wooden 
ladle, and a good appetite, I dispatched a reasonable meal, endeavoring 
at the same time to indulge in as few thoughts as possible about the 
cleanliness of the cooks. In privaf-e they intimated to my interpreter, 
Abraham, that they suspected me to be partial to Menominee. The bd 
replied that my mission was to them all. They said that they were 
glad to attend the preaching, for they were afraid Menominee did not 
know how to preach good. On this subject Abraham replied to them 
that my business was preaching, teaching school and instructing the 
Indians in mechanical trades and in agriculture; that Menominee being a 
preacher, also knew by experience that preachers received but little pay, 
and had but little to give away. I then informed them that 1 desired 
to address them solely on the subject of religion, and wished the women 
also to hear. They were called, but were ashamed to couie into the 
house, it not being customary for women to mingle with the men when 
in a council, from which they cQuld not distinguish this assembly. The 
females generally seated themselves outside of the house, near enough 
to hear. All listened attentively to the discourse, then retired about 
half an hour, which time the principal men employed in private con- 
versation. When we reassembled they made the following reply: 

'''Our Father, we are glad to see you and have you among us. We 
are convinced that you come among us from motives of charity. We 
believe that you know what to tell us, and that you tell us the truth. 
We are glad to hear that you are coming among us to live near us, and 
when you shall have arrived we will visit your house often and hear you 
speak of these good things." 

The bowl of hominy was then passed around the company again; all 
smoked, shook hands, and parted in friendship. On leaving some of 
them gave their l)lessing. The benediction of one was as follows: 



THK HKMOVAI, OF THK l'< )TT.\ \V.\ TTo.M I K IM.l.vN'S. 41 

"May the Great Spirit preserve your energy and health and conduct 
you safely to your family, give success to your labors, and bring you 
back to us again." 

Mr. McCoy remained two days. " During the time," he said, "Meno- 
minee delivered to his people a lecture. He had no ceremony, but com- 
menced without even rising from his seat, and spoke with much energy. 

Me=no=nii=nee Had Two Wives. 

"A little after dark the company dispersed and all shook hands with 
me as they had done at meeting. When we were alone Menominee in- 
formed me that he had two wives, Some had said that if I had knowl- 
edge of this circumstance I would push him away from me." "I tell 
you," said he, "that you may know it. It is a common custom among 
our people, and often the younger sister of a wife claims it as a privilege 
to become a second wife that she to may have some one to provide meat 
ior her. This is the case in regard to my two wives who are sisters. I 
did not know it was wrong to take a second wife; but if you say it is 
wrong, I will put one of them away." This I thought appeared like 
cutting off a hand or pulling out an eye, because it offended, and 1 there- 
fore said I must think before T speak in regard to it. 

Me=no=ml=nee as a Preacher. 

"Menominee at one time showed me a square stick on which he had 
made a mark for every sermon he had preached. 1 then showed him in 
my journal the list of texts from which I had preached at different times, 
showing at the same time that what I had preached had been taken from 
such and such places in our good book. He immediately began counting 
his marks and mine in order to ascertain which of us had preached most 
frequently in the course of a year. Finding a considerable difference in 
my favor he pleaded his inferiority. He must now see all my books and 
papers, hear me read, notwithstanding he could not understand a word. 
I attempted to write in my journal, but he kept so close to me that I had 
to defer it. I retired into the bush to make some hasty notes with my 
pencil, but he followed, and in a few minutes was seen gazing at me. 

"The weather being excessively hot and we being obliged to use 
water taken from a filthy pond, the flies exceedingly severe on our horses, 
and our situation in every respect being very unpleasant and unwhole- 
some, Abraham, who was already sick insisted on our leaving. He said: 
"We stay here, I'm sure we die; our horses die too. Me no want to die 
here." Menominee called together all his people, of whom I took an 
affectionate leave after promising them that, if practicable, I would visit 
them agaij when the leaves began to fall. Menominee walked with us 
half a mile, begged a continuation of our friendship, declared that he 
would continue to please God and do right— and so we parted. 



42 THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. 

"Among these tribes we rarely saw the men laboring in the field. 
The cultivation of the field was almost universally esteemed the business 
of the women. On our return trip we passed a small field in which a 
company of men were also laboring. Men, women, and children, came 
running to meet us at the fence, and gaye me the parting hand. I did 
not see among them a particle of either bread or meat, excepting a few 
pigeons which they had killed with sticks; some deer might have been 
taken but they were destitute of powder and lead, and had not anything 
with which to purchase these articles. Excepting roots and weeds their 
only food at this time consisted of corn and dried beans, of which their 
stock was exceedingly small." 

What Became of Me=no=nii=nt!e. 

It may be a query in the minds of many what finally became of the 
good preacher, Menominee. The twenty-two sections of land ceded to 
him and Pe-pin-a-wa, Na-ta-ka and Mak-a-taw-ma-ah, were never trans- 
ferred to the government by Menominee, and were he living whatever 
interest he then had would still be his. The other chiefs who shared 
with liim in the ownership received $14,080 for their interest, but Me- 
nominee refused to sign the treaty, and never transferred his interest 
either by treaty or sale to the government or others. He was placed 
under military surveillance at the time of the removal from Twin Lakes, 
in 1838, and guarded by soldiers on the 900 mile march to t-^e Western 
reservation. He was at this time a man well along in years, and it is 
more than likely, as he was never heard of afterward, that he died of a 
broken heart. As to the other chi^^fs associated with him in the owner- 
ship of the reservation, the white traders cheated them out of the 
money received for their share before they were removed, and in the 
mixitig up of the various bands in the caravan, they lost their identity 
and disappeared — but 

Whither they went and how they fared, 
Nobody knew and nobody cared. 

Me=no=mi=nee Cruelly Treated. 

In view of all the facts as revealed by a careful investigation, ihe 
conviction forces itself upon me that Menominee and his band were 
cruelly treated and badly misused. Governor Wallace had as much 
right to order the raisuig of a company of troops to go to Twin Lakes 
and drive away the white settlers that were interfering with Me- 
nominee and his followers as he had to arrest Menominee and drive him 
at the point of the bayonet from his home he had not surrendered. If 
he had signed the treaty ceding his lands to the government, agreeing 
to remove to the Western reservation and had refused to do so, then 
the case would have been different. He had as good a right to remain 



THE UKMOVAL OK THE POTTA WATTOM I K IXDIAXS. 4H 

on his lands at. Twin Lakes as had Joseph Waters and liis white f'ol- 
h)wiug, who seem to have heeu the real cause of the disturbance. As 
I look at it, the whole affair was cruel and inhuman, and partook more 
of savagery than the act of a civilized, enlightened and Christian peo- 
ple. The Indians were surrounded Uy the soldiers before they were 
aware that force was to l)e used in driving them away. They were dis- 
armed of guns, tomahawks and bows and arrows; their wigwams and 
cabins were torn down and destroyed, and the old and decrepid, the 
lame, the halt and the blind, the women and children, were marched 
off l)y the soldiers like so many cattle to the slaughter. And when the 
record shows that the grav<-s of 101) of the poor, helpless beings mark 
the pathway of that sad and solemn procession, I can not resist the con- 
clusion that a cruel wrong was done, which time can not condone, and 
which can not be forgiven here or hereafter. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF EARLY RESIDENTS. 



The following interviews with residents of Marshall county who 
were i)reserit at the time of the removal, or who were conversant with 
the facts, will be of historic value in this connection: 

What William Sluyter Remembers. 

William Sluyter — "1 lived near the Menominee village, which was 
just north of Twin Lakes, in Marshall county, and was present at the 
time the Indians were congregated there, September 3-4, 1888, to be 
removed to the western reservation. The village was composed of log 
huts and wigwams of poles covered with bark and matting, erected 
wthout any system. There were 75 or 100 of these primitive dwellings. 
A grave yard in which their dead were buried was near by. They buried 
their dead mostly by splitting logs in the middle and digging a trough 
in one pnrt of it, putting the dead in and closing it up. Some of them 
were put under ground, dnd some were set upright with poles placed 
around them. 

"There were several hundred Indians there at the time and (juite a 
number of soldiers--State militia, I think. Col. A. C. Pepper, I believe, 
was there in immediate charge, while, I understood, General Tipton was 
the chief of the removal. I think the caravan went in a southwesterly 
directi(ui near the north end of Lake Muk-sen-cuck-ee, thence south- 
west of Logausport and so on down a few miles west of the Wabash 
river. 

'' I saw no ill treatment of the Indians so far as the government 
was concerned. There were, however, individual cases of bad treatment 
bv some of thosp in authority. The soldiers disarmed the Indians, taking 



44 THE EEMOVAL OF THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. 

from them their guns, tomahawks, axes, bows and arrows, knives, etc., 
and placed them in wagons for transportation. There were plenty of 
wagons to carry all who were unable to walk, but not many would con- 
sent to get into the wagons, never having seen any vehicles of that kind 
and were afraid of them. They marched off single file, with a soldier 
at the head of about every forty or fifty. It was indeed a sad sight to 
see them leaving their homes and hunting grounds where many of them 
had lived all their lives, and going to a strange land concerning which 
they knew nothing. After they left, the wigwams were torn down and 
burned; eventually the old chapel which was used as a guard-house 
was torn down, and the little graveyard was finally plowed over and 
obliterated, and no trace of the village, the chapel, or the graveyard 
can now be found." 

David How's Statement. 

David How: — "I was about ten years old when the Indians were re- 
moved. I was there with my father, Isaac How, who lived near by, the 
night before the caravan started. My father was one of the guards at 
the chapel in which Chief Me-no-mi-nee, who refused to go peaceably, 
was confined. I should think there were several hundred Indians there 
at the time and a hundred or more soldiers. When they left a soldier 
was placed at the head of about every thirty or forty Indians. The 
Indians were all disarmed. Wagons were provided for all who were 
unable to walk and others, but most of them disliked to ride in a gov- 
ernment wagon and all walked that possibly could. The Indians were 
brought to the village from different parts of Northern Indiana and 
Southern Michigan by squads of soldiers, who forced them to leave 
their villages, and after selecting such articles as could be conveniently 
carried and would be of use on the vvay, they tore down and burned up 
the huts and wigwams, and marched them off to the general redezvous. 
My sympathies were always with the Indians, and think many of them 
were shamefully treated." 

Thomas Houghton's Recollections. 

Thomas K. Houghton. — "In 1838 I lived with my father on the In- 
dian trail between the Ben-ak village in Tippecanoe township and the 
Me-no-mi-nee village where the Indians were congregated to get ready 
to be removed. I was not there at the time but it was about the only 
subject of conversation for many years and I heard considerable about 
it. One incident connected with the removal I remember distinctly. 
Nigo was a Miami Indian who afterwards lived in Marshall county and 
died in Plymouth about 1880. He was forced by the soldiers to go to 
the place of rendezvous. After the caravan had started he went to Gen. 
Pepper on the second day out and told him he was not a Pottawattomie 



THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTA WATTOMIE INDIANS. 45 

and that he was not on the list of those that had agreed in the treaties 
to go west of the Missouri. Gen. Pepper examined the list and found 
that such was the case. He told Nigo that it would not be safe for 
him to attempt to leave the caravan then as if he did he might be shot 
by the guards. He told him that when they camped that night to 
come to his tent and he would see what could be done. Gen. Pepper's 
headquarters that night was in a log cabin that had been previ- 
ously vacated. At dark Nigo was promptly on hand. Gen, Pep- 
per told him to take his blanket and go into the loft above and to lie 
down and go to sleep and remain there until after the caravan had 
moved away the next ?norning when he could get up and go where he 
pleased. Nigo did as directed, and next morning started back through 
the woods to his wigwam north of Bourbon where he remained until a 
few years prior to his death when he removed to Plymouth where he 
died as stated.'' 

John Lowery's Rt^collections. 

John Lowery. — "1 lived close by the Indian chapel which was lo- 
cated on the north bank of Twin Lakes a few rods west of where the 
railroad crosses the wagon roud, and near where the Indians congrega- 
ted in 1838 preparatory to being removed to a reservation west of the 
Mississippi. I was not there at the time, being absent in Laporte coun- 
ty, I talked with those who were there, and with some who went with 
the Indians part of the way. 

*'Gen. Tipton was the moving agent, had command of the militia, 
and had had much to do with the Indians for many years previous in 
this part of the country, having be^n employed by the government to 
secure treaties for the extinguishment of the Indian titles to their res- 
ervations. The Pottawattomies were peaceable and were always kindly 
treated by him. There was no occasion for cruel treatment on his part 
and I am satisfied none was offered to any of them unless they deserved 
it. The time specified in the treaties for the Indians to remove having 
passed, Gen. Tipton sent squads of militia to the several villages in this 
l)art of the state with directions to require the Indians to assemble at 
the chapel on a day named as a starting place. 

^•At the appointed time nearly all that were able to go met at the 
chapel where a council was held and arrangements made for the start 
the next day. The chapel hall was used for the meeting of the council. 
The building was made of hewn logs and' its dimensions were about 
40x20 feet. The doors were not locked; no handcuffs were used and no 
indignities were shown any of the Indians so far as I have been able to 
learn. They were told that the treaties signed by their chiefs required 
them to go west to the reservation provided for them within two years 
from the date of the treaties, and that time having expired, it was their 



46 THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. 

dut}" to go peaceably. Many of the Indians protested that the treaties 
had been procured by fraud, and had not been signed by those having 
authority to sign them, and that was the reason they had not gone peace- 
ably before. The treaties, however, having been ratified by the govern- 
ment, and the reservations having been made subject to entry there was 
nothing to be done but to remove the Indians. That was done as 
quietly and humanely as it was posssible under the circumstances. The 
country was new and unimproved, and in Northern Indiana an un- 
broken wilderness. There were no wagon roads then and the Indian 
trail was difficult of passage with wagons aud packhorses. There were 
among the Indians many old men and women, and pappooses, and not 
a few sick and unable to go without being transported in wagons or 
on packborses. This was the condition on that September morning in 
1838 when over 800 Indians started on their long journey." 

Statement of I. N. Clary, Wagoner. 

Mr. I. N. Clary, of Lucerne, Cass County, Indiana, since deceased, 
being interviewed said: "I was a boy of twenty and went with the 
caravan as a teamster, driving a four-horse team. Gen. Morgan, of Rush 
county, was major general, and Wm Polke litmtenant. Dr. Jeroloman, 
of Logansport. was the physician in charge. The Indians camped the 
first night on the Tippecanoe river r.nd the third night at Horney's Run, 
north of Logansport. The caravan moved in wagons and on foot, the 
Indian men walking and hunting as they went. The number of wagons 
was sixty and the distance made each day was from seven to twenty 
miles. Stops for the night were made where water was plenty and all 
slept in tents and wagons. The Indians were well treated by the re- 
moving party and did not suffer for food or water. The caravan went 
west from Logansport and passed through Sagama town; crossed Sag- 
ama river, and forded the Illinois river near Danville, Illinois, and passed 
through Jacksonville and Springfield, Illinois. We crossed the Missis- 
sippi river at Alldan, Illinois, in an old shattered steamboat that was 
not safe to cross on. and it took us two days before we were all on the 
other side. The grand river was crossed near the mouth of the Mis- 
souri, and that river at or near Independence. We left the Indians at 
a point near the Osage river in Kansas, having been sixty days making 
the journey." 

A Table of Removals. 

<,)uite a number who had secreted themselves in various places in 
Northern Indiana, and others who for one reason or another were un- 
able to go with the caravan above referred to, went peaceably, under 
the supervision of Alexis ( -oquillard, during the summer of 1840. What 
remained of the Pottawattomies who had not entered land and settled 



THK REMOVAL OF THE I'OTTA WATTOM 1 E INDIANS. 47 

down to peaceful pursuits, were congregated at South Bend some time 
in the summer of 1851, and conducted from there to the Western reser- 
vation, also under the direction of Alexis Co(|uillard. who had heen 
awarded the contract by the government at a price agreed upon, to re- 
move the Indians. 

In a report made to the Indian department in 1840, it appears that( 
Gen H. Brady was instructed by the secretary of war on February 26,1 
1840, to assume the direction of the emigration of the remainder oiF thei 
Pottawattomies. A party of 536 set out, and 52<) were delivered October! 
(5. 1840, to tlie sub-agent at the place of their destination, and on October 
16, General Brady reported that 430 more had set ou<-, and on the 3rd of 
November were moving to the southwest. 

In a letter address'^d to George W. Ewing, of Fort Wayne, who was 
interested with Coquillard and others in the contract for the removal of 
the Indians, May 19, 1853, the commissioner of Indian affairs reported 
the number of Pottawattomies and other tribes who emigrated west as 
follows: 



YEAR 



1833 

1833 
1834 
1835 
1836 
1837 
1837 
1838 
1838 
1840 
1S40 
1851 



IN CHARGE OF 



L. H Sands 

James Kennedy 

William Gordon 

Captain liussell 

G. Kerchival 

G. W. Proffit 

L H. Sands 

I S Berry 

William Polk /General Tipton) 

A. Coquillard 

Godfrey and Kerchival 

A. Coquillard and others 

Total 



NO. IX 
PARTY 



67 

179 
199 
712 
()34 
53 
447 
150 
75() 
52<) 
430 
()39 

4792 



A large number removed themselves not included in the above table. 
In 1836 upwards of 500 so removed of whom no roll was furnished. In 
1837 a p;a-ty of 842 was enrolled and reported to the department which 
probably included the self emigrants of 183(5. 

In 1847 a party of between 700 and 800 who were probably not en- 
rolled, were removed by Alexis Coquillard. No mention is made of the 



48 THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. 

removal by the war department, and the information in regard to it is 
obtained from the following persons who went with the caravan: 

Benjamin Coquillard, South Bend — "I accompanied my uncle, 
Alexis Coquillard, when he removed the Indians west in 1847. I am 
positive of the date from its being the year of the Mexican war. There 
were between seven and eight hundred men, women, and children, and 
1() wagons in the caravan. The Indians were gathered from about Co- 
lumbia City, Huntington, Manchester, South Bend, Peru and Winamac. 
They were mostly Pottawattomie and Miamis; stragglers and deserters 
from the 1846 removal which my uncle conducted. The caravan start- 
ed about 11 miles north of Peru, Indiana, and traveled a little north of 
west through Winamac and Ottowa I don't remember any of the 
other points. We traveled about 33 miles per day. There were no deaths 
or desertions. The Indians were treated well; were provided with tents 
and ponies and also had the privilege of riding in the wagons. They 
had plenty of food, such as flour, bacon, coffee, beans, sugar, molasses, 
etc. White flour was used exclusively. Alexis Coquillard, the younger, 
was business manager, whose duty it was to go in advance to select 
camping places, and warn the people of the towns not to sell liquor to 
the Indians. Fannie, Alexis Coquillard's wife, was the only woman in 
the company.'' 

Charles H. French, South Bend. — "I went with the removal of 
1847, which was under the direction of Alexis Coquillard. The Indians 
were collected at Columbia City, Huntington, Manchester, South Bend, 
Peru and Winamac. I lived then in Kosciusko county, where Ezekiel 
French, my father joined the party at that point. We crossed the Mis- 
sissippi at Burlington, and the Missouri about four miles from Inde- 
pendence. We crossed both rivers in flat-boats. I don't remember any 
other points en route We reached our destination near St. Mary's 
Mission, Kansas, about September 1st, having been on the way about 
thirty ( ?) days. The Indians were treated well; had plenty of substan- 
tial food; tents to sleep in if they wanted to, and the privilege of riding 
in the wagons. Only a few had ponies, asthey were rather poor. The 
Indians went willingly, and there was no loss by death or desertion. 
The only difticulty experienced was in going through towns, where, 
unless watched, the Indians would secure whiskey, to prevent which 
the utmost precaution was used. Mrs. Coquillard was the only white 
woman in the company." 

Owen J. Lentz, South Bend. — ''I drove team for Alexis Coquillard 
when he took the Indians west in 1851. We started from South Bend 
in June with forty Indians and got six hundred more about Fondulac, 
Wisconsin; we were about four months on the way. Our rendezvous 
was at Theresa, on Fox River, about twenty miles above Fondulac, 
where I helped to collect the Wisconsin Indians. No force was used. 



THE UEMOVAl. OK THK I'OTTA W ATT( (M I K INDIANS. 4U 

''We buried six or seven Indians west of the Missouri K'iver who 
had died of cholera There were no desertions. They were treated well; 
had plenty to eat, and tents to sleep in, such as wanted them. The 
route was ten miles north of Madison, Wisconsin. We crossed the 
Mississippi at Eagle Point, three miles above Dubuque, on a horse ferry, 
thence through Iowa City, and crossed the Missouri at Ft. Leavenworth 
on a rope ferry. We had about half a dozen teams when we left South 
Bend, and seventy teams when the whole caravan was made up. The 
Indians had about three hundred ponies of their own. They were per- 
mitted to ride in the wagons whenever they chose to do so. Samuel L. 
Cottrell was the captain; John Mack, secretary, and Alexis Co(|uillard 
(younger), commissary. 

" The ladies of the party were Mrs. Coquillard, Mrs. Cottrell, Ma- 
tilda Rouseau and Frances C , Maria, and Clarissa Sancomb. The Co- 
quillards and Captain Cottrell usually went ahead to secure food, the 
camping place, and warn the people of the villages not to sell whiskey 
to the Indians. Frances C. Sancomb became the wife of Francis I). 
LaSalle, of Fort Wayne, now the widow of Edward Fdwards. Maria 
Sancomb became the first wife of the late ex-county clerk, (ieorge W. 
Matthews " 

M. H. Scott, of Danville, 111., in regard to a removal that occurred 
in 1837, says: "The party who removed the Indians consisted of Louis 
H. Sands, John B. Durett and myself, the superintendent of the removal 
being Col. A. C. Pepper, of Rising Sun, Indiana, whose headcjuarters 
were at Logansport. We went from Logansport to the Indian village 
near South Bend, where we collected them. There were about five hun- 
dred removed, most of whom were under Chief To-pin-e-bee. We wished 
to remove Po-ka-gon and his tribe also, but he refused to go, and ob- 
tained permission from the government to remove his tribe to Saganaw, 
Michigan. We took the five hundred Indians to Chicago. Our instruct- 
ions were to get them to Kansas if possible; otherwise to Council Blutt's. 
At a consultation held in Chicago, two hundred agreed to go to Kansas, 
and I took them there. Sands took the others to Council Blurt's. Several 
families of half-breeds were removed by us from Chicago. We had no 
military organization whatever." 



50 THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. 



REMOVAL OF THE MIAMIS. 



In this connection it seems germain to the subject under considera- 
tion that a pause be made here to record briefly the removal of a small 
band of Miami Indians from Peru, on the north bank of the Wabash 
River in 1846, by Alexis Coquillard, referred to frequently in the fore- 
going sketches. The Miamis and Pottawattomies were closely allied, 
having lived and intermingled by association and marriage to that extent 
for a long period of time that they had become by ties of blood, and by 
habits and tribal customs, practically one tribe in this part of the country. 

The history of the removal of this band is gathered from a corres- 
pondence from one of the removing party to the South Bend Register, 
in October, 1846, then published by the late Vice-President Schuyler 
Colfax, and for which the writer is indebted to Hon. D. R. Leeper, of 
South Bend. The correspondence is as follows: 

" St. Louis, October 21, 1846. 

Friend Colfax: It may not be wholly uninteresting to many of 
your readers to know something of the progress of the Miami emigration 
from the Wabash in Indiana to the country allotted to them by the gov- 
ernment on the Osage, near the Missouri River under the direction and 
immediate control of our townsman, Alexis Coquillard, truly "the great 
Indian man " of the West. The history of the gathering and departure 
of the Indians is about this: The time had expired in which they had 
agreed to remove west under the treaty of 1840, and last spring they 
were notified that a compliance with the stipulation of the treaty must 
be had, and in a council in April they agreed in a few weeks to com- 
mence the work of preparation. An examination of claims against the 
Indians under the commissioners, selected partly by the Indians and 
partly by the traders, took place, which detained the matter some six 
weeks. On the sixth of June they met in council and agreed again, with 
solemn assurances, that if they could be indulged until the first of 
August, they would be all in readiness and start. This was granted 
them by their paying half the expense accruing during that time; but 
on the first of August they still remained in stain quo, and on the 19th 
of that month firmly refused to emigrate, giving various reasons, one 
of which was that the government should agree to pay the claims allowed 
by the commissioners in money. This the government had refused al- 
ready with as little ceremony as (xen. Taylor used in giving Ampudia 
until one o'clock to comply with his demand of surrender at Monterey. 



THE UEMOV.M. OF THK I'OTTA W ATTOM 1 K INDIANS. T)! 

This, as had been well enough known before by many, showed the jxtor 
Indians were the dupes of a set of corrupt traders who made the Indians 
believe it would be dishonest to go off without arranging about their 
debts, and that the president would not use force to compel the execu- 
tion and fulfillment of the treaty of LSiO. The presence of a company 
of U. S. soldiers, however, very soon realized to the poor Indians (who 
are chargeable with all the extra expense), the falsity of the assurances 
of those interested friends, and the truth of their real ones. They im- 
mediately consented to go, and in ten days were on their way. They 
left Peru, Indiana, on the 6th inst. in canal boats by way of the Wabash 
and Erie and Miami canals; arrived at Cincinnati, where they took steam- 
boat and reached here yesterday. Tomorrow they will start up the 
Missouri on the steamer Clermont. The boat from Cincinnati was much 
delayed by extreme low water. The captain of the Clermont allows 
more than double the usual time to make the trip up the Missouri for 
the same reason. The city papers make beautiful work in their reports 
of the arrival of the emigrating party. One of them gives an interest- 
ing history o£ the Miami Indians now here under the direction of "Mr. 
Cutran." It will no doubt pass through a number of journals as "an 
interesting sketch," and its verity scarcely doubted, although fabulous. 
It would be amusing to see the various manners in which Mr. Co(]uil- 
lard's name is written by persons ignorant of the true way. They are 
as numerous and droll as they used to get up on (Uiicago. and which 
were amusingly going the rounds of the papers. It is " Cutran," " Cut- 
tan," " Cartran," etc., etc., never imagining it to be Coquillard. 

There were ten Indians died on the passage. The Indian agent. 
Major Sinclair, of Ft. Wayne, as superintending agent on the part of 
the government, and Major Edson, also of Ft. Wayne, one of the con- 
tractors, ylso accompanied the emigration. Major Sinclair is known as 
formerly a member of the State legislature. Yours truly, J." 



On November 9, 1846, the same correspondent wrote as follows from 
the " Indian Country:" 

"A trip up the Missouri River at low stage of water is certainly one 
of the greatest bores that can be perpetrated upon a poor mortal, but 
when to its usual horrors is added the comfort of being cooped up with 
350 filthy Indians and the usual number of hangers-on. within the lim- 
its of a small boat, with straw beds, straw pillows, your head against 
one partition and your feet against another, and all other accommodat- 
ions in strict accordance therewith, traveling twenty-five to forty-five 
miles a day and tying up at night, you may presume that comfort finds 
no place there. 

We arrived at Westport Landing with the Miami emigrating Indians 
on the morning of the first of November, 420 miles by river from St. 



52 THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTA WATTOMIE INDIANS. 

Louis, and to the country alloted to them, on the fifth. There were four 
deaths of Indian children after we left St. Louis, and the wonder is that 
there were not many more. The disposition and habits of the Indians 
wholly unfit them for water emigration, and I am fully satisfied that 
under no circumstances can an Indian be so comfortable in the white 
man's boat as upon his mother earth, and in his native forest or prairie. 
The country from Kansas (called Westport Landing at the mouth of 
the Kansas river) to this place, about fifty-five miles directly south, is as 
handsome, and, I doubt not, as fertile as can be found anywhere. It is 
nearly all a rich, rolling, well-watered prairie. There is sufficient tim- 
ber, in connection with coal, for fences and fuel. The Miamis are at 
their new homes, well fixed, well satisfied, and but for the two great 
curses — traders and whiskey — they might be a happy people. Their 
land is excellent — plenty of prairie timber, water and stone; good game, 
fish and wild fruit. Yours, J." 



What W. W. Hill Remembers of the Miami Removal. 

William W. Hill, now and for many years past a citizen of Plym- 
outh, was, at the time of the removal above noted, a resident of Miami 
county and was present at the time the Indians were being congregated, 
and was there the day they started. He says there was some dissatis- 
faction among the Indians in regard to the adjustment of their accounts, 
and they determined not to go until a satisfactory settlement was made. 
Thereupon the government sent a company of soldiers from Newport 
barracks, near Cincinnati, whose presence soon satisfied the Indians 
that the only course left was for them to arrange to go peaceably. The 
soldiers remained until the Indians were started on their long journey, 
when they returned .to the barracks at Newport. The Indians, Mr. 
Hill says, were loaded on canal boats and taken east on the Wabash and 
Erie canal to the intersection of the canal running south through Celina, 
Ohio, thence to Cincinnati, and there shipped by boat down the Ohio river. 

Mr. Hill was well acquainted with many of the tribe, and in the 
early times talked fiuently the language of the Miamis. He was espec- 
ially well acquainted with Gabriel Godfroy, the last lineal descendent 
of the Miamis, still living near Peru. They are about the same age, 
and were playfellows together for many years during their boyhood 
days. Godfroy and his band, he says, retained their reservation, settled 
down to peaceful persuits, and have got on in the world as well as their 
white brethren. 

)Jabriel Qodfroy, the Miami Chief. 

Gauriel Godfroy, since the recent death of Pokagon, is the most dis- 
tinguished Indian in the northwest. According to a recent correspond- 



THE REMOVAL OF TIIK I'OTTA W ATT( »MI K INDIANS. ."i:! 

ent, altlioiityh more than three score of years of age, he is still a line 
specimen of nianhood. He is short and stout, has a piercing? black eye, 
a quick ste}) and is well educated. A heavy growth of snow-white iiair 
covers his head and hangs to his shoulders, and together with his 
swarthy countenance it produces a very picturesque appearance. 

Chief Godfrey, as he is more familiarly known about home, owns 
one of the finest farms in northern Indiana, and as he looks after it 
himself it is cared for in the most successful manner. Surrounding 
him at iiome is his v?ife and several small children, the youngest nctt 
more than a year old. In the neighborhood are hundreds of Miami 
Indians, who very frequently look to Chief Godfrey for all kinds of ad- 
vice and assistance. It is said without any exception he is guardian 
for more persons than any individual in the north central states. 

Chief Godfroy has tried to trace his ancestors, but he failed to as- 
certain much concerning them. However, he has learned that his 
grandfather was a white man and was captured by the Suwanee Indi- 
ans near Louisville, Ky., when he was but seven years of age. The 
boy grew up among the red-skins and became one of the most skillful 
traders of the tribe. He was the interpreter at the treaty of (ireen- 
ville. He chose for a wife a woman who was half French but she be- 
longed to the Miami tribe. To them were born many children, and at 
a ripe old age the father died near the place where he was captured 
when a boy. The mother and her children moved to Ft. Wayne to live 
among her people, and while there one of her daughters married Fran- 
cis Godfroy, a Miami chief, whose father was a full-blooded Frenchman. 
Only a few children resulted from this union, and one of them was 
Gabriel Godfroy, the subject of this sketch. 



54 THE KEMOVAL OF THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. 



THE RIVER STYX. 



After the removal of the Indians, Jerry Smith was sent out by the 
government to survey the lands in Northern Indiana secured by the 
various treaties from the Pottawattomie Indians. The Menominee, 
Aubenaube, Naswaugee and other reserves in Marshall county, and the 
Kankakee reservations in LaPorte, Starke, Pulaski, Porter and Lake 
counties on the west, were all surveyed and properly laid off into sect- 
ions and smaller divisions by him. He was an educated man, well read 
in ancient literature and the classics, and, besides, had a large vein of 
humor running through his mental organization. Those who were 
familiar with the Kankakee swamps in the region of the mouth of Yel- 
low River will appreciate the following introduction by Jerry Smith to 
the report of his survey of this part of the lands ceded to the govern- 
ment by the Pottawattomie Indians. He says: 

"That the River Styx is a fabled stream and that it never existed 
except in the brain of ancient poets and priests is a proymsition which 
t am now fully prepared to deny and disprove; that Charon ever existed, 
ever kept a boat and ferry landing; that the dreary region of which 
ancient poets speak and through which the souls of the unburied wan- 
dered for one hundred years before his majesty of the frail bark would 
give them passage, and that the Elysian fields, where the souls of the 
just reveled in never-ending scenes of pleasure and delight, are imag- 
inary regions, are equally false. 

"The Kankakee, as it slops over Indiana and eastern Illinois, is the 
ancient Archerori, and English lake is the Stygian pool, at the head of 
which, near the line between ranges 3 and 4, still remain indisputable 
evidence of Charon's existence, of the identical spot where he so often 
landed his boat and took on board the souls of the departed, and last, 
but most of all, as a precious relic of antiquity which would make even 
an ordinary antiquarian leap with ecstasy of joy, the very paddle of the 
old gentleman is in existence. 

"The dreary regions from the mouth of Markum's creek to the head 
of English lake, and particularly about the ?iionth of Yellow river, is 
where so many poor souls have wandered their one hundred years — and, 
in fact, as the use of the magnetic needle was not then known, I am 
not surprised at it taking a poor man so long to get out of that place 
when he was once fairly set into it without compass, chart, grog or 
tobacco. The 'Door Prairie' and the smaller ones about it, I take it to 



THE REMOVAL OF T}IE I'OTTA WATTOM I K INDIANS. 55 

be what remains of the Eljsian fields. What has become of its ancient 
occupants and why the order of things has changed, both in theElysian 
fields and the Stygian pool, neither the present natives along the Kan- 
kakee, nor the owners, pre-emptioners and occupants of 'Door prairie' 
could tell me. I leave this to be ferreted out by historical societies and 
future antiquarians, having myself done sufficient to render me im- 
mortal by finding the prototype of the long-lost Styx, Charon's ferry 
landing, etc., without telling what has become of the old gentleman. 

"To have a correct idea of the township the ancient poets should be 
well studied. Everything said by them respecting the nether regions 
and the abode of the wicked should be applied to it, and the whole will 
make a correct, faithful and true description thereof. The very thought 
of it makes mv blood run cold." 



5G THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. 



THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS IN COURSE OF 
ULTIMATE EXTINCTION. 



By an act approved July 21, 1852, Congress appropriated $22,500 for 
the expeases and removal of the Pottawattomies of Indiana, and agent 
J. W. Whitefield reported on October 3, 1853, as follows: 

" Much complaint is made by the Pottawattomies in getting their 
their accounts settled with the government. Quite a number say they 
furnished their own transportation and subsistence when they emigrated 
to their present homes, under a promise from the government officers 
that they would be paid. Others complain that their reservations in 
Indiana, Illinois and Michigan have been taken without compensation. 
I would respectfully suggest that their claims for emigrating should be 
sent to the states from which they removed to find out the true con- 
dition of their lands." 



In the annual report of 1855, G. W. Clark reported as follows: 
"According to the roll of 1854, there were 3,440 Pottawattomies on 
the reserve. There are about 250 others living among the Kickapoos, 
some of whom have intermarried in that tribe, and all of whom obstin- 
ately refuse to move to the Pottawattomie reserve. There are a few 
scattering families in Indiana, Illinois and Michigan, and among riacs 
and Foxes. From all I can learn, this once numerous tribe cannot 
number, in all quarters, over 4,000 souls. The Pottawattomies com- 
plain greatly at the neglect of the government to reimburse those who 
furnished their own transportation and subsistance when they emigrated 
to this country. There are several hundred that set up claims of this 
character." 



The late Simon Pokagon, who died January 27, 1899, since the pub- 
lication of the foregoing sketches, in a late raaga/ine article on the 
future of the Pottawattomies, said: 

" As to the future of our race, it seems to me almost certain that in 
time it will lose its identity by amalgamation with the dominant race. 
No matter how distasteful it may seem to us, we are compelled to con- 
sider it as a probable result. Sensitive white people can console them- 
selves, however, with the fact that there are today in the United States 
thousands of men and women of high social standing whose forefathers 



THE KEMOVAL OF THE I'OTTA WATTOMIE INDIANS. 57 

on one side were full blooded so-called savages, and yet the society in 
which they move, and in many cases they themselves, are ignorant of 
the fact. All white people are not ashamed of Indian blood; in fact, a 
few are prond of it. 

"I do not wish it to be understood that I advocate or desire the amal- 
gamation of our people with the white race. But 1 speak of it as an 
event that is almost certain, and we had much better rock with the boat 
that bears us on, than fight against the inevitable. I am frequently 
asked: 

" ' Pokagon, do you believe that the white man and the red man 
were originally of one blood? ' 

" My reply has been: I do not know, but from the present outlook 
they will be. 

" The index finger of the past and present is pointing to the future, 
showing most conclusively that by the middle of the next century, all 
Indian reservations will have passed away. Then our people will begin 
to scatter, and the result will be a general mixing of the races. By in- 
termarriage, the blood of our people, like the waters that flow into the 
great ocean, will be forever lost in that of the dominant race, and gen- 
erations yet unborn will read in history of the red men of the forest, 
and inquire, ' Where are they? 



"jS the HEMOVAL of the POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. 



THE GOVERNMENT'S INDIAN POLICY. 

In his annual message to congress on December 3, 1888, President 
Van Buren, upon congratulating the country on the successful removal 
of the Indians to the Western reservation, took occasion to set forth 
explicitly the policy long established in regard to Indian affairs, for the 
purpose of exonerating the government of the United States from the 
undeserved reproach which had been cast upon it through several suc- 
cessive administrations. His elucidation of the subject, succinctly and 
fairly stating the uniform policy of the government, is deemed a fitting 
conclusion to this narrative. This policy never contemplated the use 
of force in the removal of the Indians, and it is to be regretted that the 
Governor of Indiana deemed it necessary to use soldier.s in removing 
the Pottawattomies from Marshall county, the only case of the kind, 
so far as is known, in the entire history of our perplexing Indian aff'airs. 
President Van Buren said: 

" That a mixed occupancy of the same territory by the white and 
red man is incompatible with the safety or happiness of either, is a po- 
sition in respect to which there has long since ceased to be room for 
difference of opinion. Reason and experience have alike demonstrated 
its impracticability. The bitter fruits of every attempt heretofore to 
overcome the barriers interposed by nature have only been destructive, 
both physically and morally, to the Indian; dangerous conflicts of 
authority between the federal and state governments, and detrimental 
to the individual prosperity of the citizen, as well as to the general im- 
provement of the country. The remedial policy, the principles of which 
were settled more than thirty years ago under the administration of Mr. 
Jefferson, consists of an extinction, for a fair consideration, of the titles 
to all the lands still occupied by the Indians within the states and ter- 
ritories of the United States, their removal to a country west of the 
Mississippi much more extensive and better adapted to their condition 
than that in which they then resided; the guarantee to them by the 
I'nited States of their exclusive possession of that country forever, ex- 
empt from all intrusions by white men, with ample provision against 
external violence and internal dissentions, and the extension to them of 
suitable facilities for their advancement in civilization. This has not 
l)een the policy of particular administrations only, but of each in suc- 
cession, since the first attempt to carry it out under that of Mr. Monroe. 
AH have labored for its accomplishment, only with different success. 



BD 1.4 ». 



THK ItKMOVAI. ()|- I'HK I'OTTA W ATTOM I K INIHANS. .■")•) 

The manner ol' its execution litis, it is true, from time to time t^iven rise 
to eonfiicts of opinion and unjust imputation; but in resjtect to the wis- 
dom and necessity of the policy itself, there has not from the betrjnning 
existed a doubt in the mind of any calm, judicious, disinterested friend of 
the Indian race accustomed to reflection and enlightened by experience. 
"Occupyin<y the double charaQter of contractor on its own account, 
and guardian for the parties contracted with, it was hardly to be ex- 
l)ected that the dealings of the federal government with the Indians 
would escape misrepresentation. That there occurred in the eariv set- 
tlement of this country, as in all others where the civilized race has 
succeeded to the possessions of the savage, instances of oppression and 
fraud on the part of the former there is too much reason to believe. 
No such offenses can, however, be justly charged upon this government 
since it became free to pursue its own course. Its dealings with the 
Indian tribes have been just and friendly throughout; its efforts for 
their civilization constant, and directed by the best feelings of humanity; 
its watchfulness in protecting them from individual frauds unremitting; 
its forbearance under the keenest provocations, the deepest injuries, and 
the most flagrant outrages, may challenge at least a comparison with 
any nation, ancient or modern, in similar circumstances; and if in fut- 
ure times a powerful, civilized and happy nation of Indians shall be 
found to exist within the limits of the Northern continent, it will be 
owing to the consummation of that policy which has been so unjustly 
assailed. Certain it is that the transactions of the federal government 
with the Indians have been uniformly characterized by a sincere and 
|iaramount desire to promote their welfare; and it must be a source of 
the highest gratification to every friend to justice and humanity to 
learn that, notwithstanding the obstructions from time to time thrown 
in its way, and the difficulties which have arisen from the peculiar and 
impracticable nature of the Indian character, the wise, humane and 
undeviating policy of the government in this, the most difficult of all 
our relations, foreign or domestic, has at length been justified to the 
world in its near approach to a happy and certain consummation.'" 



MAV;6 1899 







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